He juked his way into the hearts of Alabama fans upon watching his high school footage, but him leaving defensive secondaries damaged with his athleticism has caused for more love to be thrusted on him.
Jerry Jeudy is having a remarkable sophomore year, and one that potentially could have him winning the Fred Biletnikoff Award at the end.
Despite him being 75 yards shy of posting his first career 1,000-yard season – 925 yards – the former five-star did manage to advance on the Crimson Tide’s all-time list for receiving yards recorded in a single-season.
Prior to last week’s matchup against Mississippi State, Jeudy had 880 yards on 39 catches with a team-high 10 touchdowns. His output of 45 yards inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on six receptions in a 24-0 win for Alabama moved him to 925 yards, which supplants the mark of former Tide star Julio Jones from his freshman season (924, in 2008) that was ninth in history.
Jeudy is 42 yards away from tying another ex-Alabama stud as his former high school teammate, Calvin Ridley, collected 967 yards receiving in 2017 and the mark stands eighth all-time for the program. At the rate he is going, the Florida native could finish anywhere between third and sixth in Tide history in terms of receiving yards for a season.
He is averaging 20.6 yards per catch and of his 45 receptions, ten have ended with the savvy route runner in the end zone.
Jeudy has been sensational against the Southeastern Conference, unleashing 100-yard performances versus Ole Miss (136), Arkansas (135), Missouri (147) and LSU (103).
His ten touchdowns have him tied for fourth all-time, and depending on how quickly Tua Tagovailoa shows that he is 100 percent healthy, Jeudy is seven scores shy of re-writing that category of the record book.
Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
