Julio Jones Has the Right Stuff

When you talk to any Alabama fan about players, Julio's name comes up fast.  When you talk to any Alabama football coach about play makers, Julio's name comes up faster, but for different reasons.

"He's not a player on my side of the ball, so I don't coach him." Kirby Smart told me this week. "But I sure watch him like everybody else.  And one thing I notice is that he's the first one on the practice field every day and the last one to leave.  That's leadership."

This spring reciever's coach Curt Cignetti told me. "Last year Julio played the entire year nicked up and everyone on the team knew it.  But you never heard him complain or make excuses.  You just saw him make plays and give 110 percent."

He went on to say, "He's unselfish, it's not about "Get me the ball", and he shares everything he knows with other receivers."

And finally his head coach Nick Saban adds, "Everyone knew Julio was going to be something special on game day.  But what he adds to every practice is just as important. The defense gets to practice against one of the nation's top receivers and the other receivers get to learn from a guy like that too."

Admired and respected by his peers and coaches not just for his game day panache, but for his day to day work ethic and unselfish attitude, Julio certainly has all the right stuff.

But if you thought he was good last year, this could be an even better year.  Finally free from a nagging wrist injury and a groin injury that likewise required surgery to fix, Julio is now in a position to play without and injury for the first time in his Crimson uniform and really show what he can do.

Those injuries may have stopped him from hitting 1000 yards as a rookie, as he finished the year with 924 yards, 4 touchdowns and almost 16 yards a grab. 

Greg McElroy, though in his in first year as a starter, is more of a "pure passer" than departing John Parker Wilson and this alone should help Julio add to his stats.  That and the emergence of other receivers that Alabama has that will keep the defense respectful of them as well.

I predict Julio will pass last year's four TD total by his fifth game this year and that his overall season total will be around the 1700 yard mark barring any injuries.

Lastly, let me say something that that more than one coach has told me impresses them just as much as his pass grabbing ability, his leadership ability or his work ethic.  It's his yards after contact.

Every coach I've talked to commented on how hard it is for one man to bring him down, how strong he is in his ability to shed a tackler and get those extra yards.  He plays like a big running back once the ball is in his hands.

This truly is a player with "all the right stuff" alright, and this will be the year we really see him blossom into legendary status.