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Last season, Landry Jones threw for 3,452 yards and 45 touchdowns while leading Artesia High School to the New Mexico state high school championship -- the Bulldogs' third in the past four years and 25th overall.

But that wasn't enough. Jones wanted more.

The No. 4-rated quarterback in the 2008 ESPN 150 and University of Oklahoma commit set his goals and went to work.

"I kind of just wanted to improve my stats from last year, throw more touchdowns and throw for more yards than I did last year," Jones said.

He started working on doing just that in July. The 6-foot-4, 224-pound Jones was one of 11 top high school quarterbacks invited to the EA Sports Elite 11 quarterback camp held at Soka University in Aliso Viejo, Calif.

"I got to meet a lot of the other top quarterbacks and made some friends out there," Jones said. "[The coaches] taught us how to study film there and break down defenses and look for stuff and showed us some different routes that worked against different defenses.

"They stressed footwork, you can always improve on your footwork. Footwork's the key to throwing. If you get your feet in the right place you're going to succeed."

Jones followed that up with a camp at Oklahoma, working with Sooners quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel.

So as his senior season began, Jones was coming off a summer where he fine-tuned an already solid set of quarterback skills. He possesses all the traits teams look for in a complete quarterback. While he is not a scrambler, he is a good enough athlete to get out of trouble and make some plays when things break down in front of him. He is big, strong, has a live arm and can make all the throws.

But being one of the highest-rated quarterbacks in the nation and leading a championship team, Jones knew he had to be prepared to face the pressure opposing defenses would throw at him. Kind of like something that happens regularly to Jones' favorite NFL player.

"I've always liked Tom Brady and I like the way he plays the game," Jones said. "Like Brady, when it comes down, I'll make the play that's either going to put us in the right position or win the ball game for us."

Cooper Henderson, head coach at Artesia, says the Jones-Brady comparison is accurate. But having coached Jones for the past four years, there's more to his leader than what the spectators and scouts see on Friday nights.

"I think it really spoils you as a coach because he's one of those young men who's going to work hard both in season and out of season," Henderson said. "Sometimes as a coach you definitely make bad calls too, and he's real good at turning a bad call and making it look like a good play.

"I think those type of things are some of the intangibles that you don't see."

Through the first six games of the season, Jones is on pace to reach his personal goals, having thrown for 23 touchdowns and nearly 1,800 yards. The Bulldogs are 5-1, the only loss being a 46-45 overtime loss to Las Cruces.

"It's just kind of disappointing to lose a close one like that," Jones said. "But we just have to come out [Friday] and play the way we're capable of playing and just go out there and handle business and I think we'll be fine."

Although, his man focus is Artesia, Jones has kept a close on his future team in Norman. Jones is one of 14 commits who will be joining the Sooners next fall, including No. 1-rated running back Jermie Calhoun (Van, Texas). With a state title already under his belt and knowing what college he'll be playing for next season, many other players would go through the motions -- not wanting to get hurt and damage their future college career.

But not Jones.

"Not when it comes to football. I'm looking forward to [Oklahoma], but I'm not looking forward to it enough where I just want to skip my senior year of football and already go on."

Not when you have a chance to win another state championship and continue to earn accolades as one of the nation's top quarterbacks.

Jamar Hudson is a recruiting editor for ESPN.com.