New London — One of the first people to serve as a mentor when Ryan Jones arrived at the Coast Guard Academy was quarterback Derek Victory. Victory, Coast Guard's all-time leader with 7,513 career yards, was a senior when Jones was a freshman.

"Just a really genuine guy," Jones, the current quarterback for the 5-2 Bears, said. "He was always asking me how I was doing in chemistry and the answer usually was 'not very good.' ... He had moxie."

Ethan Goldcamp, Victory's successor, was Jones' next confidante.

Goldcamp, a junior, suffered a career-ending injury in the fourth game of the 2017 season. Jones took over and the Bears went 0-6 with him as a starter. Goldcamp never lost faith in his apprentice.

"He was always my biggest fan," Jones said. "Ethan took over as (student assistant) coach as soon as he stopped playing. If anybody told me I couldn't play football again, I'd be devastated and I only have three games left. Ethan handled that with so much maturity. ... The six games I started my sophomore year, people looked at us like we were the worst they'd ever seen."

And yet Jones, apparently, has a considerable amount of moxie, too.

Recruited by Coast Guard as a cornerback, Jones is in his third season as the Bears' starting quarterback and during Saturday's 33-8 victory at Maine Maritime he became just the fourth quarterback in program history to eclipse the 4,000-yard marker for career passing yards.

Jones was 26-for-34 for a career-high 353 yards and three touchdowns to give him 4,145 passing yards. That puts him in the company of Victory (2013-16), Jon Resch (2009-12, 4,569 yards) and Cory Anderson (2002-05, 4,459 yards).

Coast Guard (5-2 overall, 2-2 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference) plays defending league champion MIT (3-2, 2-1) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Cadet Memorial Field as part of a Parents' Weekend celebration. Jones is 12-5 since his 0-6 start.

"That game showed R.J. didn't try to do too much, he hit the guy that was open," said junior wide receiver Justin Moffatt, who had a monumental day himself, catching a career-best 13 passes for a single-game school record 256 receiving yards and touchdowns of 56 and 58 yards. "It showed what R.J. and I have been working on for three years, we just give each other that look and he knows he can depend on me."

Headed into the Maine Maritime game, Jones was coming off a game he said is going to haunt him for a while. He threw two interceptions in the final 2 minutes, 7 seconds in a 20-14 loss to NEWMAC favorite Springfield on Oct. 12.

"I was bummed out for a couple hours. When you watch the film, it's evident we could have got that win," Jones said at Wednesday's weekly luncheon. "The seniors have never beat them, so I felt like it was kind of a missed opportunity. ... I always had confidence, confidence in myself, confidence in my team. We just had to take that next step up."

Coast Guard coach Bill George called Jones — 125-for-223 for 1,382 yards, 10 TDs, 8 interceptions this season — "a good leader."

George said, as he has in the past in discussing his quarterbacks, that there's more pressure on the starting QB than there is on any other position player.

"He's in the limelight more than anybody else," George said. "That's a very difficult, different position. There's 16 people in the United States of America that can start at quarterback in the NFL. The other 16 (pro starters) aren't that good.

"It's a very unique position in sports. They are on center stage. A pitcher isn't controlling where the other nine guys go. A pitcher doesn't have a 290-pounder trying to gouge his eyes out."

George said all his quarterbacks have had their own personalities. Anderson, who is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, had a "big arm," said George. Anderson was drafted by the Chicago Cubs out of high school and by the Washington Nationals following his junior year at Coast Guard. He did not play his senior season for the Bears.

George recalls Resch's quick feet and his maturation and Victory's quiet confidence.

"You get to know these guys more when they become officers," George said. "You see them as people later on. Twice (Resch) has come by in the last five or six years; he's a pilot now. Cory was the first person to call me when my mother died when not very many people knew. They all turn out to be phenomenal people.

"Ryan is more vocal. He's in the forefront (of the team)."

v.fulkerson@theday.com