quote:
I’m not going in there thinking I’m starting Day 1,” Simpson said in a Friday interview with Rivals. “If I play one year and have a year like Mac Jones did, I can fulfill my dreams in the NFL and I feel like the developmental part of it with the NFL coaches and Coach Saban will be a big part of my career at the University of Alabama.”

Simpson is referring to Jones’ patience to wait his turn for a starting job behind quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa before blossoming into arguably the nation’s top quarterback in 2020.

Cause and effect: I was waiting for tangible fallout from Mac Jones’ greatest of all time CFB season performance.

The Mac-J (and D-Smith, N-Harris, et Al.) lesson of “stay the course, wait your turn” is powerful and easily understood. And Alabama is going to use it over and over for recruiting.

Too many people in this board seem to think early playing time is a driver for recruitment... Well, maybe... if you want to get your arse beat up, get hurt, be exposed on the field because of technique or play recognition failures. Truth is two years of practice against the best with good coaching is perhaps a better path than getting thrown in the pond early and told to swim.

Saban is going to use the Mac Jones story as a “go-to” for recruitment and to keep players in school. Those of you other-fans can only watch for it and grind your teeth.

This post was edited on 2/27/21 at 10:48 am