FACES Calum Down-Jones Wants a BA in ‘Having Fun’

Calum Down-Jones in his newly-purchased football gear (Photo by Garrett Falke)

An amateur football superstar, underground DJ, and lifetime cinematographer is in constant pursuit of finding a career that he’ll love

Calum Down-Jones attempts to swiftly snag a pass from his brother, extending his right hand while gliding through the air. Unaware of the ditch in front of him, he falls and drops the football while simultaneously hitting the grass. Phased, but not completely deterred, Down-Jones lifts his arms up. He says, “Having Trump hands definitely makes catching a football more difficult,” as he arises from the ground and begins his new route.

Down-Jones isn’t a collegiate football player, nor does he have any experience playing the sport outside of the video game “Madden 15,” but this doesn’t detract from his love of football itself. Every day he heads to a local field with his agility ladder, cones, and cleats ready to “put in work.” He doesn’t enjoy running on treadmills (he hates the activity), and instead resorts to playing football with friends for cardio.

Down-Jones practicing his football video game skills

“Not playing football is definitely my biggest high school regret,” Down-Jones says. “But I still play with my friends and the Kids’ Factory students, which is a daycare that I work at. I am easily one of the best players there.”

He sets up the agility ladder following his route running routine and begins to clumsily work his way through his drills. According to Down-Jones, these drills are much easier now with his new blue cleats that he bought off the Facebook marketplace for an unrevealed price. Prior to his recent purchase, he exercised in high-top Vans.

But Down-Jones possesses a myriad of interests outside of football, including DJing and producing music. He loves EDM music and constantly experiments with the genre by creating off-the-wall beats in hopes of captivating fellow online listeners. His latest release, a Christmas album titled “The Stuffing in Your Stocking,” received lofty praise from his closest friends and family.

“Any type of creative outlet is something that I naturally gravitate towards,” Down-Jones says. “And creating music has become a huge hobby of mine. Messing around with songs that I love and seeing if I can make them sound cooler is one of the best ways for me to spend free time.”

Yet, despite Down-Jone’s creative ventures like producing music, the hobby he has always been most fond of is cinematography and creating short films. Since the age of eight, when he was first gifted a video camera, he has been writing, directing, filming, and even starring in his own videos.

Although the films he works on today don’t contain as much violence and gore as his childhood home videos, in which he used gallons of ketchup to replicate gushing blood, Down-Jones takes pride in his work from the past year. He has been heavily involved on multiple college film sets, which has resulted in him winning money at local film festivals.

“Despite my other interests, film has always been my number one love,” Down-Jones says, who starts to lose energy from his rigorous workout routine. “There are so many different factors that are necessary in making a good film, which is part of the reason I love it so much. The challenge of making a video that is respectable motivates me to continue working hard.”

Calum Down-Jones has utilized all the stamina his body has to offer, as he begins untying his cleats while lounging on the grass. During his youth he had terrible grass allergies, but now that he has been freed of his childhood restraints, he cannot get enough of the “soft green stuff.” He looks out into the distance, pondering over what the mere future stores for him.

A low quality image of a high quality thriller made by a 13-year-old Down-Jones

“While I love all these different hobbies,” Down-Jones says. “I still am clueless as to what I am going to do in the future with these interests of mine. Sometimes I wish you could just major in having fun.”

Down-Jones just began his last semester at Saddleback prior to transferring to a university, and although he has almost two years of college under his belt, he still doesn’t know which career he’d like to pursue. While he is grateful for the extra time to make decisions that community college has granted him, he still feels as if teenagers are forced to decide what they’d like to do for the rest of their lives far too quickly.

“I am still 19, how the hell am I supposed to know what I want to do for the rest of my life?” Down-Jones asks. “I’m just now

beginning to figure out who I am as a person, which is why I find it inconvenient that I am supposed to know what I want as a permanent job when I can hardly decide what I want for breakfast in the morning.”

The 19-year-old community college student starts walking off the field with his head drenched in sweat, holding his cleats in his hands. Suddenly, his eyes open wide and an immense smile makes its way onto his face. Down-Jones ecstatically proclaims that his future job can be a “creaing football highlight tapes on YouTube.”

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