As a senior, he is one of few players that reporters have not been able to speak to.
Hailing from Sachse, Texas, Jared Mayden is a quiet soul who wants to let his performance on the field carry the conversation. Unfortunately for him, he was one of two players selected for media availability on Alabama’s bye week.
The 6-foot, 205-pound safety took the podium sporting a shy smile; however, he was prepared to answer questions on a Tuesday.
Once a four-star in the 2016 signing class, Mayden has waited a long time for his opportunity to start in Nick Saban’s complex defense at Alabama.
He’s held his own through five games – posting 20 tackles (15 solo), one breakup, one quarterback pressure and one interception.
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His first career pick came in the Crimson Tide’s 59-31 win over Mississippi.
Mayden read the eyes of the quarterback, tracked the ball to the middle of the field, and would have cashed the takeaway for a touchdown – if he had a few more blocks.
He laughed about getting the interception crossed off his to-do list, but he’s still learning how to be a starter.
“I’m still getting better at it,” Mayden said. “It just makes it easy with everyone around me and everybody being positive. I’m still trying to grow and get better.”
Communication is an area Mayden stated as a working progress for him.
“I got to get the calls echoed across the board,” he said.
“I’m not really too much of a talkative guy, so I am trying to break through that barrier. Also, I know I still need to continue to work on my tackling on the perimeter coming down at safety. In the SEC, there are a lot of big backs out there. So, I need to make sure I’m not just going up to hit guys as hard as I can. I need to be able to hit and wrap up, so wrapping up is my focus.”
As a group, Mayden identifies tackling, playing the ball and communication as things the secondary needs training on.
One of the bright spots for the future of this unit is true freshman, Jordan Battle from Florida. The four-star safety from the 2019 signing class has produced an impact to where he is one of the starters in the dime package. Battle chimes in with 12 total tackles – including two for loss and one sack. He also has one interception through five games.
A second pick was in the realm of possibility for Battle versus Southern Mississippi, but he slipped before securing the ball and dropped it.
Alabama’s coaching staff has much confidence in him and Mayden sees the freshman as the next ‘great talent’ to come through on defense.
“Jordan is coming into his own,” Mayden said. “He’s a funny kid. He plays with a lot of energy and what he doesn’t know, he’ll ask in meetings. Even out on the field, he’ll look at me and I’ll look at him to make sure he’s doing the right things. He’s a crazy athlete.”
With a youngster in Battle on the rise, Mayden wants the communication to be clear.
“I make sure he is on the same page I’m on,” Mayden said of keeping Battle in the loop.
“I always make sure that after I get the call from the sideline, I look at him or if the formation changes, I’ll look at him. I feel like he is always looking at me, so I feel like we are always going to be on the same page. It’s not too many times where he doesn’t understand what’s going on.”
Alabama will start its stretch of challenging games next week against Texas A&M.
Effective communication, tackling and playing the ball well are all aspects that will help the secondary return to the College Football Playoff.
Mayden knows what his guys need to do and he plans on executing these things with Charles Kelly (safeties coach) through the bye week.
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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.
