Sept. 21 (UPI) — Alabama head coach Nick Saban announced Monday that Mac Jones will be the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback when the team opens the season Saturday against Missouri.
Jones — a redshirt junior — started four games last season after former starter Tua Tagovailoa was injured. Jones also threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns during the Crimson Tide’s 35-16 win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
“Mac has had a really good camp,” Saban told reporters Monday. “Really played well in the last scrimmage. Did a good job of taking the leadership role. I think he’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
Jones edged Bryce Young, a former five-star recruit who enrolled early, for the starting job. Young and Paul Tyson, the great-grandson of legendary Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, will share the backup duties.
“He’s going to be a great quarterback” Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith said of Young last month. “With him not having a spring and just coming during the summer, he learns quick. I like what I’m seeing. He’s ready.”
Elsewhere in the SEC, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron picked Myles Brennan to succeed Joe Burrow as the Tigers’ starting signal-caller in the team’s season opener Saturday against Mississippi State.
Brennan, a junior from Mississippi, has appeared in 17 games in his career, including 10 last season. Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and guided the Tigers to the national title last year.
Also Monday, Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt named Jarrett Guarantano as the team’s starter at quarterback.
Guarantano, who lost his starting job last season, has started 25 of his 34 games played. He has thrown for 5,062 yards with 32 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
“When you do the same thing over and over, it creates confidence,” Pruitt told reporters Monday. “So I would suspect that he’s got to have a lot more confidence heading into this season, as opposed to the previous season, because the terminology is the same and the people around him are the same. I feel like he’s demonstrated that at practice.”
The Vols open their season against South Carolina on Saturday.
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