Deep-Ball Specialist: Mac Jones is Perfecting the Art of the Long Touchdown
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After Alabama football's 52-24 defeat of Texas A&M in Bryant-Denny Stadium this past weekend, one thing became abundantly clear when looking at the stat sheet after the dust had settled:
Mac Jones is a deep-ball specialist.
In Saturday's game against the Aggies, three of the Crimson Tide's redshirt-junior quarterback's touchdown passes were for 63 yards or more. His longest was an 87-yard bomb in the third quarter to junior wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
In his brief time starting for Alabama since late last season, Jones set an Alabama record this past weekend that most didn't have on their radar:
He's now the all-time Crimson Tide leader in touchdown passes for 85-plus yards with three.
Sophomore wide receiver John Metchie expressed the sentiments of the Alabama wide receiver core in a press conference via Zoom on Monday afternoon.
“I’ve got full confidence in Mac when it comes to us executing on the field," Metchie said. "Especially because all the time we put in in the offseason and all the work that we’ve done together to get to this point."
Jones' ability to throw the deep ball isn't just by chance, though. In practice, both Metchie and junior defensive back reiterated yesterday that it's something that he focuses on consistently in practice.
For Surtain, he says that Jones' focus on perfecting the deep ball helps the team.
“Practice, he gets better each and every day," Surtain said. "He gets better, makes us better, makes the whole team better. When he’s confident back there, poised in the pocket, it helps the team tremendously.”
Metchie got even more specific, citing that his deep ball is simply a routine at this point due to how much he's practiced it.
"I would say his deep throw is really good," Metchie said. "I think he’s extremely confident in what he does, and I’m extremely confident in what he does. And at the end of the day, it’s all about us doing our jobs.
“I would say that it’s just like routine. It’s just practice. It’s just like any other pass that we’ve done hundreds of times over in practice. It’s all about focus.”
Jones and Metchie connected with both the first and last touchdowns of the day this past Saturday against Texas A&M, both of them of course being deep-ball touchdowns. In the first quarter, Metchie caught a 78-yard touchdown pass, while in the fourth he made the reception from Jones for a 63-yard score.
Even Alabama head coach Nick Saban stopped a took a moment to compliment Jones on his deep-ball passing ability on Monday afternoon.
“I think he’s done a good job of it," Saban said. "We hit a couple Saturday, missed one. But I think that’s a pretty good batting average. I think ability when people are crowding the box and the safeties are trying to cover the receivers and you’ve gotta be able to take some shots, and it was certainly that we were able to take advantage of in the game.
"Obviously, the runners did a good job of getting behind people, and Mac did a good job of delivering the ball, for the most part.”
As Jones and the Crimson Tide prepare for its upcoming weekend trip to Oxford, Miss. to take on Ole Miss, one thing is slowly becoming abundantly clear to the defenses of the SEC:
Always be ready for deep-ball specialist Mac Jones.
