When Mac Jones arrived at Alabama, he was a third-string quarterback behind the more heralded Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, and few people thought he was destined for greatness. But Mack Wilson saw something special.
Wilson, a linebacker who arrived at Alabama the year before Jones, is now Jones’ teammate in New England. And Wilson says he always knew Jones was going to be a special player.
“I remember Mac when he was a pup,” Wilson said, via Boston.com. “Just seeing how much he grew as a person and a player, it amazed me. I was telling everybody back home, friends and family, ‘Mac Jones is going to be special.’ A lot of guys didn’t believe me. Even some of the guys that were on our team didn’t believe me. I just saw something in him that just made me like: ‘Hey, this kid is going to be special.’ I used to always tell him, ‘Just stay working, man. Stay patient. Your time will come.’ And that’s what he did and obviously the rest was history.”
Wilson said Jones has always been the kind of leader teammates can get behind.
“You know a lot of guys come in as freshmen all uptight. Mac, he just had swagger,” Wilson said. “That’s something that caught my eye. He made some big plays. He made some great throws. Even when he scrambled he had a little juice in him. It was just different little small things that I’ve seen that made me like, hey, I like Mac. He’s going to be good. I believed in it and obviously it’s coming true.”
Wilson arrived in New England from Cleveland in a trade this offseason, and now he’ll get to see Jones up close again.