Mike Tyson famously once said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. That old adage really explains why, for the first 11 months he spent with Mac Jones, then Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian had his backup quarterback down as a smart, competitive kid with a lot left to prove.
Then, on Nov. 30, 2019, Jones really took one in the teeth.
That was the day of the Iron Bowl, and Jones’s third start for the Tide, in his third year on campus. Alabama’s archrival got after him. Auburn’s menacing front, juiced by No. 7 pick Derrick Brown, lived in the backfield that afternoon, registering eight tackles for losses. The chaos led to two pick-sixes by Jones—one a bad throw, the other bad luck—and as the sun set on Jordan-Hare Stadium, the crowd only got more hostile.
“Both times, after the interceptions, he came right back, made some great throws and led us back down the field for a touchdown,” Sark said on Wednesday, from his new office in Austin. “Derrick Brown, they had some great pass rushers. I mean, he is standing in and taking hits and delivering strikes at critical moments and leads us down at the end of the game again for a game-tying field goal, which we ultimately missed.
“But doing that—he earned a lot of respect for me. And I think he earned a lot of respect from his teammates, from the resiliency that he showed, the mental and physical toughness that he showed. And then we went on to beat Michigan in the bowl game. But that game always kind of stands out to me, not because we won, but more so of just him. I learned a lot about him in that game.”
That Auburn game would stand as Jones’s final loss at Alabama, and the momentum has carried right into the 2021 draft cycle, during which Jones has gone from a first-round curiosity into, potentially, the third pick.
The biggest question on Jones has been an easy one: What makes this guy who a lot of things special enough to go that high? To find out, I called Sarkisian, who I’d heard was raving about his old quarterback to NFL teams.
If you want to know why the Niners would consider him at No. 3, you’ve come to the right place.
