These Alabama football players are primed for breakout 2020 seasons.
Alabama football, in the simplest terms, has been a factory of NFL-caliber talent under head coach Nick Saban. Year after year, the Crimson Tide are one of the leaders in the NFL Draft in terms of the number of players drafted. And at the same time, the program continues to consistently be in the mix to win the National Championship because they always have potential stars lying in wait.
Considering that Alabama had four players selected in the first round and seven players selected in the first two rounds, the Crimson Tide undoubtedly have some holes to fill. But staying par for the course in the Saban era, they have players who are ready to step into those shoes and not only not miss a beat but perhaps be even better than those who came before them.
Of course, not all of these players stepping into bigger roles are household names just yet. Subsequently, these five Alabama football players are in line to have breakout seasons for the Crimson Tide in the 2020 campaign.
Alabama football breakout candidate No. 5: Mac Jones, QB
With Tua gone, Alabama football is in need of a new quarterback. And there’s no question that many fans will be calling for 5-star freshman and potential superstar talent, Bryce Young, to win the starting job. However, with the truncated offseason in addition to experience already garnered, it feels as if the starting job is Mac Jones‘ to lose for the 2020 season.
The injuries that ultimately ended Tagovailoa’s career in Tuscaloosa made way for Jones to earn four starts last season while he also played in 12 total games. And in those starts, the Crimson Tide went 3-1 while Jones actually flashed some really nice things. Overall, he finished the year completing 68.8 percent of his 141 passing attempts for 1,503 yards with 14 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
No one is going to make the mistake of thinking that Jones is Tua or say that he has the ultimate upside of someone like Young. However, Saban has long valued reliability and Jones has shown that he can be that. It would be a shock if he doesn’t win the starting quarterback job and, if he does, he has all the tools around him to produce some big numbers in his first full season as the starter.
Yes, if Jones is the starter, we’re likely going to see and Alabama football offense that focuses more on the run than they did with Tagovailoa at the helm. Yet, that should only serve to make Jones’ life that much easier and open up the field for him to end up producing a big-time season that, frankly, isn’t a drastic step back from what his predecessor put forth over his career.