To the eyes of the world, having a five-star rating and carrying much talent holds the most weight at quarterback.
Both aspects serve a purpose, but it goes deeper than that for Nick Saban at Alabama.
His quarterbacks function almost like CEO’s, in terms of leadership, physical and mental toughness, decision making, football intelligence, competitiveness and this is all mixed in with quality production on the field. As a high school quarterback, Saban was a scrappy point guard and sees himself in players that carry themselves with a competitive edge. The perfect example of this is the development of Mac Jones.
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He has been the biggest surprise to college football this season. Not only does he have Alabama with an undefeated record and the top-ranking, but he also is the leader of this year’s Heisman race and NFL Draft experts are projecting him as a first-rounder for the 2021 venue. Prior to the year starting, the thought of Jones winning the job at quarterback for the Tide was laughable to those outside the program.
After having Tua Tagovailoa come and change the perception of Alabama football with his skill set, fans wanted to see the next signal caller build off what he did. He did not arrive on campus with fan fare and was not the most popular name in the room. In fact, some blamed Jones for the Crimson Tide’s loss to Auburn last season.
It was his first marquee game against an aggressive defense as a starter. He totaled 335 passing yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Despite the mistakes, the native Floridian still positioned Alabama to win the matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Unfortunately, a missed field goal led to the Tigers winning by three points (48-45). Bryce Young, a true freshman, was the topic all summer for the job at quarterback, but Jones has been excellent since the contest versus the Tigers.
In speaking with Denny Thompson, Darrian Slack and Joe Dickinson before the season, all three coaches told yours truly of Touchdown Alabama Magazine that Jones was preparing to do something special. Thompson worked with Jones over the summer, while Slack and Dickinson have been around him since childhood. Regardless of the critics, the trio saw Jones as a ‘natural passer of the football’ and an ‘NFL talent.’
They constantly praised his deep ball, his ability to mentally process the game, his love for being a ‘team player’ and his competitive nature.
All three said Jones would have a ‘Joe Burrow type of season.’
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“Mac is a dog,” Thompson said. “He’s a leader and a dog. Whatever Sarkisian wants to do, he will do it well.”
Through six games of a 10-game, conference-only schedule, people are now seeing what I have harped on about Jones for the last two to three years. During the time of a global Coronavirus pandemic, the redshirt junior has Alabama on pace to win a Southeastern Conference title and a national championship. He has this offense ranked No. 1 in the SEC in scoring (47.2 ppg) and second in total offense (555.2 ypg). Both of these statistics have the Tide in the top-five nationally.
As an individual, Jones carries the SEC’s best completion percentage (78.5), passer rating (210.3) and total quarterback rating (95.6) while having 2,196 passing yards and 16 touchdowns to two interceptions. He is the only signal caller in Alabama history with three straight 400-yard passing games, and has stretched the field vertically in ways people did not think he could do.
Now, those who doubted him are proud to have him as the leader.
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Miller Forristall, a senior at tight end, is someone who knows Jones very well. On Monday, he was available to speak to local reporters and he said it does not surprise anyone in the locker room to see how well Jones has done.
“I know it surprises a lot of people, especially on the outside,” Forristall said of Jones’ season. “I know a lot of people did not see that from Mac Jones and we have over the past two to three years. The way he’s worked and prepared and turned himself into one of the premiere football players in the country … I’m proud of him. He is going to keep working and I am excited to see what else he can do.”
One of the first changes in Jones’ maturation was building his body.
For the longest time, he was stuck at 205 pounds on a 6-foot-2 frame. Last offseason, he put on 13 pounds of healthy weight and grew an inch.
Now at 6’3″ and 218 pounds, Jones can throw his weight around, step into throws and take big hits.
Even with him being skinny back then, Forristall remembers the fighter in Jones.
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“He was a very hard competitor, even on the scout field,” Forristall said. “He was always yelling at himself, because he always wanted to be so good. He held himself to such a high standard. That is something that sticks with me and I think it led to his development, being the player he is now. Not only in the way he plays, but also in the way he leads … he earned the respect of a lot of guys early from that.”
Although recruiting sites work hard and people feel as though each freshman coming into a program will be better than an older player, sometimes we can miss on a prospect that we did not think much of originally.
“Something to the outside voices was Mac came in as a little white kid, three-star recruit from Jacksonville,” Forristall said. “So, automatically you get put off. He came in not a big name and everyone just assumed he would get rolled over in the list of big names. Bryce Young has done a fantastic job. I’m proud of the way he’s developed and he continues to grow. He will be a great player, but Mac Jones is an elite passer. He continues to grow. The way he prepares and has transformed himself into a very good player, you don’t see a lot of the intangibles from the outside.”
To quote a line from the move Transformers, “there is more to this than meets the eye.”
It has always been more to Jones than people knew. He was able to rewrite his own narrative and is proud of it.
This week, he will lead the Crimson Tide against Kentucky as Alabama goes after its seventh win.
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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.
