FALMOUTH — Temperatures approached 100 degrees for the first day of the Drive Fore Kids Celebrity Golf Tournament. And while most of the celebrity players took to Falmouth Country Club for a practice round in short sleeves and shorts to beat the heat, New England Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones was in a sweater and pants, looking like he was playing a casual nine holes on an October afternoon.

“Everyone was talking about it’s hot out here,” said Jones, a native of Enterprise, Alabama. “I was like ‘It’s no humidity. I’m good.'”

Jones, entering his third year with the Patriots, is one of the 36 celebrities taking part in the second edition of the Drive Fore Kids event. The list of guests includes athletes, actors and broadcasters. Jones is joined by two former Patriots – Rex Burkhead and Doug Flutie.

It’s been an offseason of change for New England, with Jerod Mayo replacing Bill Belichick as head coach, Drake Maye in as the hopeful new franchise quarterback, and winds of transition blowing around a franchise that for years was known for its consistency.

“Most people want to look at the Super Bowl,” Jones said. “No, we’re going to training camp first, we’re going to practice, and we’re going to build on that.”

New England sank to the bottom of the AFC East with a 4-13 record last season, its worst since 1992. Still, Jones said, the expectations for success honed under Belichick and Tom Brady haven’t gone away.

“We already have the foundation of making sure that we don’t get complacent,” he said. “The legacy has been set, so our standards are a little bit higher than other peoples’.”

As he spoke with Falmouth Country Club’s 18th green behind him, Jones shook off the ominous betting odds facing the team, gave a promising report on Maye – the third overall pick in April’s draft – and discussed Belichick’s departure following 296 total wins and six Super Bowl titles with the team.

“He just made sure we knew how to watch film, watch people’s tendencies, the importance of snap counts, the importance of knowing where you need to be. He just made the standard so high,” Jones said of Belichick. “Bill established something that we want to be a part of later on. … We want to get back to how it was.”

Jones, a speedster who played at the University of Houston, was poised to make an impact last season after being named an All-Pro returner in his rookie year, but he injured his shoulder and missed all but two games. He said he’s healthy now, but didn’t go into detail about what role he would play after playing in all three phases of the game as a rookie – mostly because, he said, he’s waiting to find out like everyone else.

“I know I’m a defensive player, so I will be playing defense and returning, but other than that, whenever it comes, it comes,” he said, smiling. “Make sure you all stay tuned.”

Burkhead’s retirement in February put an end to a 10-year NFL career, including four years in New England. Burkhead scored three touchdowns in the 2019 playoff run that culminated in the Patriots’ last Super Bowl title.

“The playoff games and Super Bowls are very memorable,” he said. “The thing that’s bittersweet about retirement is the locker room. The guys we had in that locker room, we had so many great guys. … That’s what you miss the most.”

Burkhead also shared fond memories of playing for Belichick.

“I loved it. He’s such an intelligent coach, he knew everything about every single player that we played against, every team, knew the whole backstory of all of them,” he said. “He brings out the best in you. You’ve got to appreciate that. I respected that.”

Some notable Patriots opponents are also in Falmouth – former Rams running back Marshall Faulk; former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, whose wife, Sarah, is a Falmouth native; and Dwight Freeney, who was a pass-rushing menace with the Colts from 2002-12 and a star when the Patriots-Colts rivalry was at its peak intensity.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Freeney said. “I’ll get a little love, and I’ll get a little hate. But I’m sure I’ll get more love because they got the upper hand and got a lot more championships than we did.”

Freeney, who won the Super Bowl with the Colts in 2007 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in February, recalled the tone of that rivalry, which included playoff battles in the 2003, 2004 and 2006 seasons.

“It was a lot of back and forth there,” he said. “Their players played the game the right way. That doesn’t mean we liked them, because we did not like them. … We always knew it was going to come down to one of us at the end.”

Time’s healed all things. Well, to an extent.

“You’ll never see me wear a Patriots thing, you’ll never see anything from the Patriots in my house,” Freeney said, laughing. “I get nauseous just thinking about it. But that’s just the result of what happened throughout our years.”

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