ORLANDO – Jerry Jeudy sure went out with a bang.
If indeed this is his last game as a member of Alabama’s football team.
The junior receiver’s first catch of Wednesday’s Citrus Bowl against Michigan was an 85-yard bomb from Mac Jones that went for a touchdown.
Jeudy made the catch, slip out of a shoelace tackle attempt and raced the rest of the way for the easy score in Alabama’s 35-16 win.
“They had one-one-one coverage with Jerry and that’s what we wanted,” Alabama quarterback Mac Jones said. “I knew Jerry could beat his guy and threw the ball up and he made a great play.”
Jeudy hasn’t officially announced whether he will enter the NFL Draft, but the odds are very high he’s played his final game at Alabama.
Alabama coach Nick Saban certainly thinks so.
“For Jerry to go out there and have 200 yards he certainly used this opportunity to showcase his ability and probably even enhance his opportunity at the next level,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.
Jeudy caught six passes for 204 yards, going over the 100-yard mark after his second catch. It makes his decision to not skip the game that much more special.
“I’ve played football all my life,” Jeudy said. “I couldn’t just sit and watch my teammates out there playing. I wanted to be out there with my brothers competing.”
Jeudy ends his prolific career as one of Alabama’s all-time best. He won the Biletnikoff Award as a sophomore, finishing with 1,315 yards on 68 catches with 14 touchdowns. That effort put him second on Alabama’s all-time list of most yards in a season.
In the fourth quarter Wednesday, Jeudy moved ahead of Julio Jones for fourth on Alabama’s all-time receiving list. In his three years Jeudy has 2,842 yards, 26 touchdowns with 159 receptions.
Jeudy showed up big-time in the fourth quarter with Alabama leading 21-16. He caught a 14-yard pass on third down, Alabama’s first third-down conversion of the game. He then hauled in a 58-yard pass to set up a Miller Forristall touchdown catch to give Alabama a comfortable 28-16 lead midway through the quarter.
Reach Edwin Stanton at edwin.stanton@tuscaloosanews.com, 205-722-0226 or via Twitter, @edwinstantonu2
