Mac Jones had been waiting on an Alabama football team to call his own, and now he has it.
When the depth for the season opener was released on Monday, the redshirt junior was named the starting quarterback for this season.
He was able to fend off a talented freshman in Bryce Young and is excited about leading the Crimson Tide to a national championship.
As a four-year player in the program, Jones replaced an injured Tua Tagovailoa late in 2019 and started in games versus Arkansas, Western Carolina, Auburn and Michigan. He played well in all four matchups and despite two interceptions against the Tigers, the native Floridian put the Tide in position to send the game into overtime.
Alabama’s coaching staff and student-athletes have all confidence in Jones.
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The trio of Jaylen Waddle, Alex Leatherwood and DeVonta Smith spoke on his leadership, work ethic and the way he handles the locker room all summer. Despite him catching game-winning touchdown passes from Tagovailoa, Smith said he looks at Jones the same way he viewed the first-round pick of the Miami Dolphins.
Jones has a bunch of talent around him and in his second year with Steve Sarkisian at offensive coordinator, he looks forward to proving a lot of critics wrong on the field.
During his interview with reporters on Tuesday, LaBryan Ray said Jones is a ‘great leader’ both on and off the field.
“He’s one of those guys who comes in every day and works his tail off,” Ray said of Jones. “He is the leader of our offense, but he is also one of the leaders on the team. We feed off his energy.”
Ray, a redshirt junior at defensive end, came in Alabama’s 2017 signing class with Jones.
One of the impressive things Jones did on Tuesday was rattle off every marquee defensive starter and contributor for Missouri off the top of his head. He even broke down about five players who changed their numbers. Regardless of COVID-19, Jones wants to make sure he is more than prepared to navigate the team through a 10-game, conference-only schedule.
Not only is he excited to have football back, Jones is also prepared to get back to winning.
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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.
