Alabama Football: Can Paul Tyson be Mac Jones 2.0?

Alabama football has a history of developing quarterbacks

Mac Jones defied the odds on his way to becoming Alabama football’s starting quarterback. He sat behind two of the best quarterbacks in the history of the program, and many believed that Bryce Young would beat him out of the starting job. However, he continued to improve and led the Tide to a national championship.

Now that Mac Jones is heading to the NFL, the Tide will be looking for a new starting quarterback. That will almost certainly be Bryce Young, but another quarterback on the roster is being constantly disregarded. At some point, could Paul Tyson become the next Mac Jones?

There are some similarities between these two players. Both were outside of the top 300 recruits in their respective classes. Both signed with another highly-touted recruit. Mac Jones was in Tua’s recruiting class, and Tyson was in Taulia’s class. After signing with Alabama football, both immediately redshirted and were buried on the depth chart. So, can Tyson continue on Jones’s legacy before he runs out of eligibility?

There are a few things that are working in Tyson’s favor. For starters, he still technically has four years of eligibility after two years in the program. Even if Bryce Young wins the starting job, Tyson would presumably have two more years of eligibility before Young entered the NFL Draft.

Also, Paul Tyson was a higher recruit than Mac Jones. While he has barely seen the field so far in his Alabama football career, Jones struggled significantly before taking over as the team’s starter in 2019. If Tyson were to get a year as the team’s top quarterback, he would likely be ready for the pressure of leading the Crimson Tide.

Still, what Mac Jones did was incredible. There is a reason that no one predicted him to have this much success. He exceeded every expectation and shattered records, which is why it isn’t fair to suggest that Paul Tyson can simply follow in his footsteps.

While Tyson will begin the offseason as QB2, he will receive heavy competition from Jalen Milroe. Milroe has a chance to be Alabama’s next quarterback after Bryce Young’s career ends. Also, Alabama football is always looking for the next recruit at every position. Mac Jones had to fend off Taulia Tagovailoa and Bryce Young. We might not even know the name of the next quarterback who will come to Tuscaloosa to compete.

At the end of the day, it is unrealistic to expect Paul Tyson to simply be the next Mac Jones. However, it was also unrealistic to expect Mac Jones to be the most accurate quarterback in the history of college football, so we’ll see if Tyson can shock us as well.