Jumbo Package: Mac Jones talks 2020 season, playing with Jalen and Tua

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Happy Thursday everyone. Yesterday we were honoring the day by Gumping over Keelon Russell’s Heisman candidacy, but Charlie Potter thinks that Austin Mack is still very much alive in the race and might even have an edge.

Very interesting, but I still fully expect Russell to win the job.

Nick Kelly continues to hear great things about Devan Thompkins.

The Southern Cal transfer didn’t have eye-popping stats out west, but all early indications out of Tuscaloosa are that he’s got a real chance to became an instant game wrecker in his first season with the Crimson Tide.

“Once we got to know him and you started doing your research from his time at USC, you know this guy’s a captain, he’s a leader,” defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said in the spring. “He carries himself with a professional demeanor day-in and day-out.

“And he has absolutely shown that in the first two months of being here, just the level of maturity that he brings. The work ethic. He wants to be coached, he wants to be pushed and he has a really, really high ceiling.”

Thompkins figures to play what Alabama calls the Bandit defensive end, but he’s got the versatility to move inside as well.

“Just because of his athleticism and because of his size and strength,” Wommack said, “he can do things inside and outside at a pretty high level.”

A breakout year from Thompkins would be lovely.

Mac Jones went on the “Bussin with the Boys” podcast and spoke about a range of topics. Perhaps the most interesting was the dynamic of that 2017 QB group.

“It was interesting, because early on, they were probably (thinking), ‘This guy’s a non-threat,’ kind of a cool guy … that’s how they viewed me, kind of like a little bro,” Jones recalled during Tuesday’s episode of Bussin’ With The Boys. “We were all cool, but they were definitely competing. You could feel like a little bit of tension in the room, and I was always in the middle – it was like Jalen, Tua, and me in the middle.

“It’s not like they were fighting or anything. But think about it, Jalen (is coming off a 2016 season where) you’re the man, go to a natty as a freshman, you’re winning every game you play, and they bring in Tua and they’re kind of starting to kind of push Tua on him,” Jones added. “And Tua played really good in practice (that 2017 season), so I get what they were doing, and I was just the scout team quarterback. So, that dynamic was honestly great for me … (because) I kind of knew were I was at (in the pecking order).”

There may have been tension, but we’ll never forget how it ended.

Mac also spoke about the work ethic required at the fourth quarter program.

“One of the strength coaches, not Scott Cochran but an assistant, he thought I was a walk-on,” Jones said. “So he put me in the other group with the walk-ons on the first day. I didn’t know [anything], so I’m like ‘I’m going to lift my a— off.’

“There’s a coach there, coach TJ, he’s like an old school strength coach, and he’d always call me, ‘You’re my walk-on, you’re my walk-on.’ Even when I was starting, ‘You’re my walk-on, you’re my walk-on.’ So that’s where that story came from, but eventually that pissed me off.

“I’m not a walk-on, screw that. So that motivated me right there, and I was going to prove to everybody that maybe I don’t look the part right now, but I’m going to show them I’m a dog. And I did throughout the four years.”

Jones explained Alabama’s fourth-quarter program, where players run and lift in the spring. He opened up about working out against Hurts and Tagovailoa, and it only made him stronger.

“You get a shirt after every week if you do well, they maybe hand out 10 of them for the whole team,” Jones said. “So all four years in a row, every week I got a shirt. So I got it like 16 times or whatever, and it was a huge deal for me. That was my goal every week: get the shirt, at least try to be the first one. I couldn’t really beat Jalen because he’s faster than me, but I gave him a run for my money.

And, as always, he injected a little humor.

“They got us every day. It was legit, me and DeVonta Smith were the only ones that didn’t test positive,” Jones said with a laugh.

However, he, and the rest of the team knew they had something special, so they locked in and stayed the course.

“Nobody go out, like we’re not doin that shit,” Jones said. “This is our year, like we can beat anybody we’re playing against.”

Jones went onto discuss the difficulty of playing an all-SEC schedule that season, since very few teams around the country were able to play non-conference games.

Great that the two most critical players on the roster were able to avoid the virus.

Last, yesterday we talked about Bruce Feldman’s take on Kalen DeBoer. The ESPN staff isn’t quite as high on Kalen, ranking him 5th in the SEC headed into 2026.

Numbers to know: DeBoer has a 20-6 career record against ranked opponents. His .770 winning percentage is the third best by a head coach (minimum 15 games) since the AP poll era began in 1936, trailing Frank Leahy (.829) and Pete Carroll (.795). … Over his career, DeBoer’s teams are 10-5 outright as an underdog, the best winning percentage by any head coach whose team has been an underdog at least 10 times since the 1978 FBS/FCS split.

You had DeBoer ranked sixth. Five of your colleagues left him off their ballot. Does that mean you expect big things from him and the Tide this season?

No, it means I believe he has been able to win at every stop with fewer resources and less talent — and it’s only a matter of time before he gets the Tide back. DeBoer enters the season with 20 wins against Top 25 teams since 2021, the second most among active head coaches. Bama fans don’t have patience, but that’s what it’s going to take, along with an understanding that the days of Nick Saban-esque dynasties are probably over. DeBoer is a proven winner, but taking over for Saban was a lose-lose situation for anyone. Give him a minute. — Heather Dinich

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.

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