Mac Jones showed tremendous patience at Alabama when he waited for his opportunity behind both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, but sitting on the bench for two years certainly didn’t shake his confidence. Jones was so confident in his abilities, in fact, that he even talked trash to Nick Saban when he was an underclassman.
With Jones’ stock rising heading into the NFL Draft, Trey Wingo did some research on the star quarterback and came across an awesome story in a 2019 piece from Sports Illustrated. In it, former Alabama safety Jared Mayden recalled a time in practice when Jones was burning the Crimson Tide’s defense as a scout team quarterback. He kept connecting on deep passes to wide receiver Tyrell Shavers, and eventually Saban told Jones to knock it off so the team could work on other stuff.
According to Mayden, Jones had a surprising response.
“Well, tell your defense to stop it,” Jones supposedly told Saban.
Mayden said there are few players who have the courage to talk to Saban that way.
“There’s not too many people that go back and forth with Coach Saban,” the defensive back said. “For a quarterback to have that type of charisma about himself, you know I’ll be behind him all the time.”
Mayden didn’t say how Saban took the remark, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he appreciated it. While most people are used to seeing the serious side of the legendary coach, Saban has actually had some hilarious exchanges with players behind the scenes.
Of course, Jones went on to lead Alabama to a national title. Whatever Saban saw in him, he had a good reason for it.
