If not for his spinal stenosis, I'd jump at drafting Jones. But, that's too big of a question mark. I'd go in another direction.
I'm a UGA fan, and attended 101 consecutive games home and away the past 8 years (unfortunately my streak ended this year). With that said, I am extremely familiar with Jarvis and have been since he was in high school in Columbus, GA. I can ASSURE you that Jarvis has no health issues relating to his neck. After he got hurt at USC, their doctors wouldn't clear him to play. Our doctors did feel he was capable of playing and he transferred back home. He played this year and was dominant and was a first team all american. There is not a better pass rusher or linebacker in America than Jarvis. He did miss some action this year, but it was due to a groin injury. Hey, those things happen in football.
The ONLY knock on him is that he is not top notch in run defense. Teams that ran directly at him had some success on the ground. As a pass rusher though, he is unmatched. He simply gets to the QB. The guy is disruptive as hell and will thrive in the NFL getting in the backfield. Like I said though, his run defense may be a question mark.
With all that said though, there is absolutely no reason for concern about the health of his neck or spine.
These are bold claims, for which you provide no evidence whatsoever. What are you basing these claims on? I don't care if you've been a UGA fan since before you were born. What's your evidence that a player with a stenosis condition so bad that a team like USC recommended he quit football, has "no health issues relating to his neck"? I would certainly hope your evidence isn't simply based on your having watched all his games, since that is obviously irrelevant.
The injury occurred against Oregon on Halloween in 2009. By all accounts, it was a routine hit, but after staying on the turf for a few seconds, he was removed from the game. Within days, he found himself in the hospital, where a specialist told him he had a "mild" case of spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column. "I've seen this over and over again," Jones remembers the doctor saying. "If you play the game long enough, things like this will happen."
The doctor told Jones he would be fine and he could play again. But the Trojans' team doctors thought the injury was much more serious and refused to clear him for contact; they eventually recommended that Jones retire from football. So the then-20-year-old spent his days wandering from class to the basketball gym to the weight room. "Just like a regular student," he says. Just a 6'3", 241-pound student who considered trying out for USC's basketball team.
"But in my head," Jones says, "I never let go of the fact that the first specialist told me I'd be okay."...
....At a loss, Jones began to wonder if other team doctors would clear him. So Carver High coach Dell McGee called Georgia, Florida State and Alabama on Jones' behalf. Not surprisingly, all of the coaches said that if doctors cleared him, they wanted him.
First, Jones received clearance from a doctor in North Carolina. Next, Georgia coach Mark Richt was by his side as he underwent tests at a hospital in Athens, three hours north of Columbus. "When Jarvis told me he missed drinking sweet tea," Richt says, "I knew we had a good chance." Once those Georgia doctors officially gave Jones their blessing, he sat with Richt at a nearby restaurant in June 2010. "Coach," Jones said, "I'm a Dawg."....
....As the 2013 draft approaches, Jones' neck will likely be evaluated once more. "There are no absolutes when it comes to stenosis," says ESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell, a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist. "It's not uncommon for doctors to have differing opinions, and players must be evaluated on an individual basis. But if the condition is severe, injury could result in permanent neurological damage."
Jones insists that his neck is fine. No pain. No numbness. He says the injury's lone lingering effect is mental: "I know what it's like to not have this game in my life."
My evidence is based on a few things. For one, UGA doctors said he was cleared to play. If a normal person in the real world gets a diagnosis, they can seek a second opinion which may be different than his own doctor's. USC said he was a liability, UGA said he wasn't. I'm not a doctor, but the point is that some medical professionals thought he was fine. I'm quite sure that we wouldn't lie to him and tell him he's ok to play if he actually wasn't, all in a ploy to get him to come to UGA.
Second, he played all year (aside from a groin injury, which isn't the issue in question) and had no repercussions. He was flying around, making tackles, putting his head down, getting blocked, etc. and had no trouble at all with his neck or spine. His injury was over 2 years ago. I mean, yeah I guess if he gets his neck squashed or mangled like David Pollack did then he'll have an issue, but any human being on earth would in some cases. What I'm saying is that Jarvis has zero issues as of now with his injury over 2 years ago, and he's shown that on the field.