This has been a weird college football season for obvious reasons, but the joyous aspect for Alabama fans has been the development and maturation of Mac Jones at quarterback.
Many people expected for him to return the Crimson Tide’s offense to the days of Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron.
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Both signal callers were national champions, but they were not known for taking shots downfield.
McElroy and McCarron were viewed as ‘game managers.’ The term brings a lot of negativity to the conversation, despite its meaning of the quarterback being able to handle situations and keep its team ahead of the curve.
When individuals hear a quarterback that is referred to as a game manager, they think of someone who cannot vertically attack defensive secondaries and just settles for safe throws.
Jones has the mental make up to manage the game; however, he can also make every throw on the field.
Prior to the season, yours truly of Touchdown Alabama Magazine had interviews with Denny Thompson, Darrin Slack and Joe Dickinson — all of whom are coaches in Florida that worked with Jones over the summer. The trio of gentlemen all said the junior was prepared to be special and that he would have a ‘Joe Burrow type of year.’
These statements have come into fruition, as the masses are admitting to being wrong about Jones. On last week, Bo Nix of Auburn called Jones a ‘game manager’ in his presser.
The 6-foot-3, 214-pounder used Nix’s words as motivation to have a career day.
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After turning in his worst game versus Kentucky — statistics wise — Jones brought out his finest outing in the 85th Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 302 yards with five touchdowns. Not only did he distribute the ball to five different receivers, but Jones also became the third player in Tide history to toss for five scores in a single game.
He joins both Tua Tagovailoa and Gary Hollingsworth in that category. Also, he stands with Tagovailoa as the second quarterback in school history to account for five touchdown passes against Auburn in a single game.
His 66-yard deep ball to DeVonta Smith got the game started, and he returned with four more scores to Smith, Metchie and Jahleel Billingsley was even involved at tight end. In guiding Alabama to a 42-13 win, twelve of Jones’ 18 completions were recorded as either first downs or scores. Upon the end of the matchup, Smith said Jones was motivated by what Nix had said.
Smith said when he saw the video of Nix calling Jones a game manager, he sent it to him.
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“I showed it to him and it was funny seeing that, but at the end of the day … people are going to talk,” Smith said. “They are going to do what they want and we are just going to show up and execute the game plan.”
Jones was dominant in the game plan and his preparation.
He now has the Crimson Tide at 8-0 and returns to the top of the Heisman race.
As for his individual numbers, Jones is sixth in the nation for passing yards (2,728), second in completion percentage (76.2), second in passer rating (208.0), tied for fifth in touchdown passes (23), first in total quarterback rating (95.5) and first in raw quarterback rating (93.4).
He has five games with at least 300 passing yards, including three 400-yard performances.
Jones has the Tide on pace to win a national championship, and fans could not be more proud of him.
He will lead Alabama into Tiger Stadium this week to battle LSU.
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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.
