Iowa State played four minutes and five seconds in its canceled season opener against South Dakota State. There wasn’t a lot that happened — South Dakota State had a short possession, punted it to Iowa State, and the Cyclones moved the ball down the field. The only big play was a 55-yard catch and run into the end zone by junior wide receiver Deshaunte Jones.

Jones caught the screen, ducked under a defender and scampered along the sideline into the endzone for the first score of the 2018 season. Not a single Jackrabbit defender was fast enough to catch him.

If you ask Deshaunte’s younger brother, Keontae, sophomore defensive back for the Cyclones, he knows someone who’s faster than Deshaunte.

“Me,” Keontae said.

Deshaunte doesn’t agree. That’s part of the friendly rivalry the two have shared since childhood, and it’s something that pushes each of them to be better.

Growing up in Cincinnati

Everyone around him knew Deshaunte Jones was going to be a special athlete.

“I knew the first time I saw him,” said Tom Bolden, who coaches football at Colerain High School in Cincinnati, where the Jones brothers went to school. “Deshaunte has always been Deshaunte ever since I’ve known him.”

He was the quintessential star athlete, even from a young age. Deshaunte ran point guard for the basketball team in middle school and played quarterback and running back in football.

When he got to Colerain, Deshaunte led the triple-option attack as a quarterback. He ran for 1,860 yards and 29 touchdowns while throwing for another 785 yards and adding nine more touchdowns through the air as a senior.

“We’re a triple-option football team and Deshaunte’s arguably the best [quarterback] we’ve ever had,” Bolden said. “He was just so dynamic — in space and how he ran it, and the things he could do athletically.”

Colerain went 12-2 in Deshaunte’s senior year — which was also Keontae’s junior season.

Even though big brother got a lot of attention as the starting quarterback, Keontae was no slouch, either.

“Everything he did was 100 miles per hour,” Bolden said.

Both brothers loved the game of football from a young age. They played other sports, such as basketball and track, but football was always the favorite.

Keontae played safety and some wide receiver, but he was really a jack of all trades. In his high school career, Keontae scored via reception, punt return, kickoff return, interception return and fumble return.

If it involved being athletic and having a knack for football, Keontae was probably good at it.

“Deshaunte gave Keontae no slack,” Bolden said. “It was one of those things where [Deshaunte] was gonna be hard on [Keontae], but it was also one of those things where nobody else was gonna pick on him. He had great expectations for his brother.”

Keontae said he thinks he was the better player. Before he could even finish his sentence, Deshaunte interrupted to say he was better.

“He just played offense,” Keontae said with a laugh. “I played both, he didn’t play defense.”

The brothers had a few opportunities to work together, however.

Deshaunte fired a pass to a streaking Keontae in a high school game for a touchdown. It was Keontae’s first career touchdown reception.

Keontae didn’t want to give any credit to his brother for the pass.

“I was wide open!” he said.

While they like teasing each other about football, Deshaunte and Keontae have an immense pride for each other, Colerain and their hometown of Cincinnati. Cincinnati is also the hometown of junior running back David Montgomery, and Ohio is the home of coach Matt Campbell.

“GOATs come from Cincinnati,” Keontae said, referencing the acronym for Greatest Of All Time.

That love for Colerain and for Cincinnati always gave the brothers something to talk about. No matter what was going on in life, they had football and each other.

Facing tragedy

Each game, the Jones brothers write the same date on their wrist tape before taking the field.

Sept. 4, 2012.

That’s the day their father, Marvin Jones, died.

It’s not even about doing this for me anymore, I’m doing it for my dad that’s looking down on me. 2-7-72 – 9-4-12

— Deshaunte Jones (@DJoness3_) May 12, 2014

“They’ve always been quiet kids,” Bolden said. “They’re outgoing, great personalities, but they’re not the loudmouth kids, they’ve always been a little bit more reserved.

“I think at first they kept a lot of that bottled up. They used their athletics to kind of get away from those terrible thoughts and feelings and have a release.”

Football was that release. It was also a sport their father encouraged them to play.

Happy Father’s Day pops 🙏🏾 trying to make you proud, i know you watching over me right now😞😇

— Keontae’ Jones⁶ (@keontaejones3) June 18, 2017

Both brothers are on social media. Their twitter bios both contain “2-7-72 – 9-4-12,” the dates, of course, referencing their father.

Every year on Feb. 7, Deshaunte tweets about his father, wishing him a happy birthday.

It’s a yearly reminder of what they’ve been through, who they are and where they came from.

“I think it’s made us closer, just losing that big aspect of your life,” Deshaunte said. “As a family, it made us all closer. Just being together, it was a hard time for us.

“Our relationship is still growing, still getting better.”

Becoming Cyclones

The Jones brothers didn’t plan on going to the same college.

“It just so happened to work out,” Deshaunte said.

Deshaunte was being recruited as a quarterback by a few schools, thanks to his work in Bolden’s triple-option offense at Colerain. His 5-foot-10 frame looked more like that of a wide receiver however, and that’s where he ended up in college.

Deshaunte, being a year older than Keontae, was a bit ahead of his brother in the recruiting process. He was the first one to visit Iowa State and he fell in love with the school and the football program.

Now, in Deshaunte’s third year and Keontae’s second year in Ames, the brothers are hitting their stride.

Both were good enough to play as true freshmen. Deshaunte is one of just six true juniors on the roster — meaning he hasn’t redshirted — and among those six, one was a junior college transfer.

One game into his junior year, Deshaunte has racked up 840 career receiving yards and six touchdowns. He’s arguably the most experienced receiver Iowa State has on its roster in 2018.

Keontae was one of only four true freshmen to play last season for the Cyclones, so he has adapted to the college game quickly, too.

With Deshaunte lining up in the slot and Keontae playing defensive back, the brothers have had the chance to line up opposite each other a few times.

They both agreed they’ve each won a battle against each other, saying it’s a tie so far. That sibling rivalry has been there all along.

“We’re still like that now,” Deshaunte said. “Even with video games or whatever we do, we’re always trying to be the winner of something.”

Even when they go bowling, it’s always a battle. Deshaunte recalled a time when they bowled six or seven games in a row. Keontae said he won when he bowled a 199 in the final game.

That competitive spirit translates to football.

Deshaunte said he tried to help Keontae with things he’s picked up on in his extra year of college. They roomed together for fall camp in 2017, which might have helped Keontae get adjusted to life in college.

Deshaunte figures to be a key part of Iowa State’s air attack in 2018. Only redshirt junior Hakeem Butler had more receiving yards than him last year among returning wide receivers.

Keontae could have a bigger role this season after playing in two games a year ago, especially if Iowa State experiments with five defensive backs more often.

Regardless of who plays more on a given Saturday, they’ll be by each other’s side.