TUSCALOOSA — Jerry Jeudy did his best to squash the speculation regarding his availability for Alabama’s upcoming Citrus Bowl game with a single tweet a week ago.
Nevertheless, the will-he or won’t-he questions regarding whether Jeudy — widely projected as a Top-5 talent and the best option in a receiver-loaded 2020 NFL Draft class — would sit out the Crimson Tide’s New Years Day game against Michigan persisted.
As the highest-rated of Alabama’s nine draft-eligible juniors still weighing their NFL options — along with fellow receivers Henry Ruggs III and DeVonta Smith, offensive tackles Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills Jr., running back Najee Harris, safety Xavier McKinney, injured linebacker Dylan Moses (knee) and injured quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (hip) — Jeudy was all-but considered a lock to follow in the footsteps of other premier prospects that have already opted out of their bowl game.
“I know some people probably think that we should sit out, but we really wasn’t listening to what other people had to say,” Jeudy said Thursday during his first midweek media availability in a month. “We already know what we came here to do and we’re going to finish doing (it).”
Which is why sitting out to avoid injury, and potentially damaging his chances as a projected Top-5 pick, never even cross his mind. Not even after seeing Tagovailoa suffer a potentially career-altering hip injury against Mississippi State last month.
“We play football, like injuries happen. So, if I didn’t get injured the whole season, why would I get injured in this game?” Jeudy said. “I don’t really think about injuries or anything like that. I just go out there and play football like I’ve been doing this whole year.”
Meanwhile, two of Alabama’s draft-eligible prospects did decide they’d already played their last game in Crimson when senior cornerback Trevon Diggs and redshirt junior outside linebacker Terrell Lewis left the team prior to the start of bowl practices this week. Lewis is currently working out in Texas to prepare for the Senior Bowl at the end of next month.
"Every guy's got a choice and decision to make and we certainly respect and understand their decision and wish them well in what they choose to do," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said Monday.
Added senior safety Jared Mayden: “I mean, those guys made the best decisions for them. At the end of the day, they’re my classmates, we came in together, they’re my best friends, I met their moms and their families.
“It’s a business decision at this point, but the guys that did come back and the guys that did decide to play, we expect you to go out there and give it your all.”
Jeudy falls into that last category, along with Harris, McKinney, Leatherwood, Ruggs, Smith, and Wills, each of whom have participated in Alabama’s first four bowl practices this week.
And, at least as far as Jeudy is concerned, there never should’ve been any doubt about what he was going to do.
"I just know, like no matter what game it is we’re going to play in it,” Jeudy said. “It’s football, so I didn’t take it in no way as (just another) bowl game. I took it as like another game (where) we could just get better and compete. That’s why we love to play this game, to compete."
It’s because of that competitive spirit that redshirt sophomore quarterback Mac Jones wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Jeudy and the rest of Alabama’s junior-loaded offense on the practice field Monday.
“Those guys, even coming here, they want to play in every game and they’re team guys,” Jones said Thursday. “At Alabama, we’re trying to win championships, yes. But they want to play in every game and do the best they can for themselves and their families, and for their teammates around them. There’s no doubt in my mind those guys are gonna play.”
For the other Crimson Tide veterans, that sort of team-first approach only further reinforces the perception that this year’s team has unfinished business to take care of after falling out of College Football Playoff contention with two November losses to rivals Auburn and LSU.
“They probably didn't feel satisfied (with) how we finished (the regular season), so they want to come back and finish the right way,” Mayden said Tuesday. “You know, it says a lot about them, says a lot about their character and how they want to come back and dominate another team and have another chance to create an identity for themselves in this last game.”
For Jeudy, that identity involves a resolve rooted in competition and finishing what he started.
“I had no second thoughts about it,” Jeudy said. “I already knew whatever the bowl game we played in that I would be playing, so I didn’t really have no second thoughts.”
Alex Byington is the Montgomery Advertiser's Alabama beat reporter. He can be reached by email at abyington@montgome.gannett.com or on Twitter at @_AlexByington.
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December 20, 2019 at 08:02PM
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Team first: Alabama's Jerry Jeudy never second guessed decision to play in Citrus Bowl - Montgomery Advertiser
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