Alabama QB Mac Jones shares his SEC idol growing up
Alabama quarterback Mac Jones is on fire to start the 2020 season, completing over 74% of his passes for 684 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception as the Crimson Tide are 2-0 following dominant wins over Missouri and Texas A&M.
Jones, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, joined SEC Network’s “SEC This Morning” on Monday, and shared which SEC legend served as his inspiration as a youngster, and it may surprise you.
“Growing up I used to love Tim Tebow and the Gators pretty much” Jones said, per 247Sports. “But I never got a chance to go there and I think coming to Alabama and seeing this campus was great because I was unfamiliar with Alabama, but I was also committed to Kentucky for a while. So there was a bunch of schools that I visited and got a good feel for.
“My parents did a great job trying to let me see everywhere that I wanted to see and at the end of the day, Coach Saban and Alabama was the easiest decision for me.”
Jones was not exactly a blue-chip recruiting prospect, as a 3-star prospect in the 2017 class according to the 247Sports Composite. Saban saw something in the quarterback, however, and now has him leading one of the best offenses in college football even after losing Tua Tagovailoa to the 2020 NFL Draft.
Florida fans may feel like they missed out on not pursuing Jones heavily, but things are pretty good in Gainesville right now with Kyle Trask lighting it up under Dan Mullen in the first two weeks.
Tebow was a Heisman winner and two-time national champion during his time at Florida, and Jones will look to emulate the career of his childhood SEC hero as much as he can this season.
He’s off to a pretty good start.