Why Jerry Jeudy has a chance to go down as the best receiver in Alabama history

No. 4 for the Crimson Tide still has a season to play, but is already in elite company with the program's all-time greats

T.G. Paschal/BamaCentral

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — There are times when they have to stop the game film because of what they just saw.

Occasionally it’s for Henry Ruggs III, Jaylen Waddle or DeVonta Smith, who have all made their share of spectacular plays for Alabama and are considered to be among the best wide receivers in college football.

But more often the guy who has his teammates in awe is junior wide receiver Jerry Jeudy.

“You just like, ‘Wow, how does somebody do something like that?’” Smith said.

On Saturday, against Duke, Jeudy put on another highlight show. He paced the Crimson Tide wideouts with 10 catches for 137 yards and one touchdown.

But how he did it was even more impressive.

There was the spin move. The burst. His trying to run through everyone while attempting to reach the end zone, something the coaching staff might try and get him to do less of in the future and probably won’t have much success.

“The first thing that goes through my head when I get the ball is score,” Jeudy said. “So I just try to score and never let the first guy tackle me. That’s my mindset when I catch the ball.”

The touchdown reception moved him into fourth place on the Alabama career list, tying Ruggs and DJ Hall (2004-07), only no one in the Crimson Tide receivers room has been talking about that

Seriously, did you see that spin move?

Jeudy admits it was probably unnecessary, but his teammates called it worthy of the ‘B’ button on the Madden video game.

“There are things Jerry can do that not everybody is able to do, he’s got some spider senses or something when somebody’s around him, he’s gifted,” Smith said. “It just depends on who the person is and how you react to things.”

#DeerfieldBeach HS (FL) alum & #Alabama #CrimsonTide WR Jerry Jeudy (@jerryjeudy) with a spin move and down the sidelines for a 21-yard TD vs #Duke pic.twitter.com/QwGbtUOlCn

— Sleeper Athletes (@SleeperAth1etes) August 31, 2019

As just the program’s second winner of the Fred Biletnikoff Award for best receiver in college football, Jeudy is already in rare territory when it comes to his place in Alabama history — and not because he has a chance to be the third repeat winner.

Jeudy has already proven that he’s the complete package at the position, a rare player who is exceptional at route running, has great hands, speed and a knack for making big plays. He even blocks well, and not just for the offense.

While everyone was looking at Waddle on punt returns, he was one of the players taking out Duke players downfield — albeit with limited success in this game as Jeudy got his first holding call.

“I’ve seenlinemen falling on d-linemen, where they pancake them,” he said. “I thought we could fall on the punt. But I guess you can’t.”

Regardless, he’s being called by some the best overall player in the 2020 NFL Draft, and the best prospect at the position in years.

Yes, that includes recent Crimson Tide first-round draft picks Calvin Ridley, Amari Cooper and maybe even Julio Jones.

It sounds almost unbelievable, but Jeudy has a chance to go down as the greatest wide receiver in Crimson Tide history.

His status won’t be determined until after this season, but consider the kind of status we’re talking about here (players listed in alphabetical order):

Amari Cooper holds numerous Alabama receiving records :: T.G. Paschal/BamaCentral

Amari Cooper (2012-14)

During his junior year of 2014, Nick Saban nearly ran out of ways to describe him.

“Amari is not worthy of anyone comparing him to anybody else,” Saban said at the time. “He is Amari Cooper. He has his own style. He’s a very competitive guy who works really, really hard. Has really good speed getting in and out of breaks. Works hard in the game to get open. Does a good job of executing, has made a lot of really big plays for us this year.”

Against Auburn, when Cooper wore a brace to protect a knee bruise suffered the previous week, he tied the Alabama single-game record for touchdowns (three), broke his own single-season record (14), tallied 224 receiving yards to tie his own single-game record for yards, set against Tennessee earlier in the season, and established a new Iron Bowl record as well.

Cooper finished with 1,727 yards on 124 receptions and scored 16 touchdowns. The yards trailed only Josh Reed’s 1,740 for LSU in 2001, when Saban was his head coach.

“Great player,” junior center Ryan Kelly said. “No matter what circumstances are thrown at him, he’s going to make great plays. It’s never about him, it’s all about the team. He’s always been a team player ever since he’s been here. I think that’s what makes him so special.”

“I’d have the whole defense on him,” senior tackle Austin Shepherd quipped, but that’s the kind of respect Cooper earned.

You didn't want any of that Don Hutson smoke... pic.twitter.com/s7NAG3nKkz

— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) July 9, 2019

Don Hutson (1932-34)

The way they explain Don Hutson in Green Bay is to say that he was Jerry Rice 50 years before Jerry Rice was Jerry Rice. It’s not an exaggeration.

Widely considered first great wide receiver in NFL history, Hutson helped revolutionize receiving during an era football was still almost exclusively considered a running game.

He’s the pioneer of modern pass patterns, the first to perfect the techniques of catching a pass “in traffic,” and made the end-around a potent weapon.

“For every pass I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice,” Hutson once said.

Hutson and Millard “Dixie” Howell became football’s most celebrated passing combination in the 1930s, and in 1934 he was named an All-American. When Hutson had six receptions for 165 yards against Stanford in the Rose Bowl the West Coast writers hailed him “the greatest pass-catching speed merchant end.”

“Don had the most fluid motion you had ever seen when he was running,” said the other end on that team, Paul W. “Bear” Bryant. “It looked like he was going just as fast as possible when all of a sudden he would put on an extra burst of speed and be gone.”

During his illustrious 11-year career with the Packers (1935-45) Hutson was named All-Pro nine times, led the league in pass receptions eight season, led the league in scoring five times, and was twice named the league’s most valuable player (1941-42). He finished his pro career with 488 pass receptions, more than 200 more than the next best player during that span.

His 99 career touchdown receptions stood as a National Football League record for more than four decades, and his 29 points in a game has yet to be broken. When he retired, Hutson held 18 NFL records.

When the Packers built their indoor practice facility in 1994, it was named in his honor, the Don Hutson Center.

“I don’t know if there is such a thing as royalty in professional football, but this is the closest I’ve ever come to it,” Packers general manager Ron Wolf said at the dedication ceremony.

Julio Jones did things that no one had ever seen before at Alabama :: T.G. Paschal/BamaCentral

Julio Jones (2008-10)

Alabama was more of a run-first team when Jones played for the Crimson Tide, but there was little or no doubt about how good he could become the moment he first stepped on the Capstone.

Surprisingly, he had just one 1,000-yard season, 2010. The game that may stand out the most was Tennessee, when less than two weeks after having surgery to repair a fracture in his left hand he set the Alabama single-game receiving record with 221 yards.

"I'm not surprised anything that Julio does," junior running back Mark Ingram II said at the team. "He's a warrior. He just goes out and gives his all every time he steps on the field. If he can play, he's going to play. If he hurts little bit, he'll play through the pain."

Actually, Jones doesn’t consider the Tennessee game his best at Alabama because he had to scale down his blocking a little. The fracture occurred after making his first reception at South Carolina, when his stiff-arm got caught up in the defender.

"I knew after that play because I went to the sideline and my hand started hurting," Jones described. "I pressed down on my hand and it was moving, the bone was moving. I didn't tell the trainers but I told the strength coach, Scott Cochran: 'I think I just broke my hand, don't tell nobody. I'm going to wait until halftime.' I didn't want to make it a big issue."

Jones still finished with eight receptions for 118 yards and one touchdown. He subsequently made 10 receptions against LSU, and went on to set then-school single-season records with 78 catches for 1,133 yards.

In 40 games over three seasons he caught 179 passes for 2,653 yards with 15 touchdowns, and 3,084 all-purpose yards.

"Julio obviously is a special talent," Saban said.

Before he became a Hall of Fame tight end with the Cleveland Browns, Ozzie Newsome was an outstanding receiver for the Crimson Tide / Courtesy Bryant Museum

Ozzie Newsome (1974-77)

Coach Paul W. "Bear" Bryant called him "the greatest end in Alabama history” and that included Hutson. He would go on to revolutionize the NFL at tight end.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound player from Muscle Shoals, Ala., set numerous Crimson Tide records as a four-year starter. He caught 102 passes for 2,070 yards, with an average gain per pass of 20.3 yards, a conference record. Newsome also caught 16 touchdown passes and may have been as good of a blocker in Alabama’s wishbone offense as a receiver.

He was twice named All-SEC, and an All-American his senior year. The Atlanta Touchdown Club and the Birmingham Quarterback Club named Newsome the Southeastern Conference’s Lineman of the Year in 1977, when he was also Alabama’s co-captain.

Newsome eventually retired from the NFL as its all-time leading tight end in receiving with 662 receptions, 7,980 yards, and 47 touchdowns, which at the time was fourth overall.

Additionally, he won the NFL Players Association’s Byron “Whizzer” White award for community service in 1990, four years after being presented the Ed Block Courage Award for continuing to play in spite of injuries.

Newsome has since been enshrined into four prominent halls of fame: Pro Football (inducted 1999), College Football (1994), NCAA (1994), and Alabama (1995).

"Everyone says we can't beat Miami, but we are not just anybody, we are Alabama." -- David Palmer #thedeuce pic.twitter.com/pXqr4MHCKV

— Bama247 (@Bama_247) May 2, 2014

David Palmer (1991-93)

The thing that made “The Deuce” so dangerous was that no one quite knew what No. 2 would do next. Consequently, Gene Stallings lined him up all over the field and was always looking for ways to get him the ball.

As a receiver, Palmer had 61 receptions for 1,000 yards his junior season, which at the time was a Crimson Tide record. He also took handoffs, lined up at quarterback and handled returns, where he made ankle-breaking moves.

Overall, he tallied 1,961 all-purpose yards and placed third in Heisman Trophy voting, which at the time was Alabama’s best showing to date.

Even as a true freshman, though, Palmer was special, making an immediate impact during the 10-1 1991 season. He set an Alabama record by returning four punts for touchdowns. Against defending national champion Colorado in the Blockbuster Bowl, which the Crimson Tide won 30-25, he opened the scoring with a 52-yard return and was won the “Brian Piccolo Award” as the game’s most valuable player.

His sophomore year he caught five passes for 101 yards in the first SEC Championship Game to help lead a 28-21 victory against Florida. Consequently, No. 2 Alabama was invited to play defending national champion Miami in the Sugar Bowl.

“Everyone says we can't beat Miami, but we are not just anybody, we are Alabama,” the 5-foot-9-inch, 170-pound Palmer said.

Of course, Alabama handily won, 34-13, to win its 12th national championship.

Overall, that's elite company that Jeudy already shares, only he has the potential for more. 

As for where he might end up in terms of status, that's up to him and how well both Jeudy and Alabama finish this season.