Spelling aside, the University of Alabama quarterback Mac Jones better have gotten an A-plus on his writing assignment as a 7-year-old. Writing about his career goals, Jones was right on the money 15 years ago. He knew what he wanted as a second-grader and he’s been able to achieve it. Jones has proven to be one of the best players in college football.

Mac Jones’ football career

Originally, Mac Jones committed to play his college football at Kentucky. The 6-foot-3 junior quarterback had to show patience after red-shirting in 2017 and playing sparingly in 2018. In 2019, Jones got the call as the starting quarterback for the Crimson Tide in the second half of the year when Tua Tagovailoa went down with a season-ending hip injury.

Jones made four starts after Tagovailoa went down and went 3-1. The loss came against Auburn, but Jones had a game, throwing for 335 yards and four touchdown passes. He appeared in 11 games in 2019, throwing for 1,503 yards and 14 touchdown passes.

This season, Jones was a Heisman Trophy finalist. He racked up 4,036 passing yards and had 36 touchdown passes. He completed 77% of his passes and guided Alabama to a berth in the title game as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Jones has developed into a leader

Mac Jones has all the physical tools to be a successful quarterback at the highest level. In his first season as the full-time starter for Alabama, Jones has also displayed great leadership. He drew high praise from head coach Nick Saban.

“Mac’s shown a lot of maturity in the way that he’s played so far this year,” Saban said earlier this season, according to Sports Illustrated. “I think the more experience he gets, the more confidence that he has. We left some plays on the field, I think, on third down in the game that we certainly need to improve on and work on because that’s been something that’s been a really positive thing for us. But Mac’s been able to stay steady. He stays in a good place, keeps his eyes in the right place, keeps making good choices and decisions.”

Jones admits his leadership skills have gotten better, but knows there’s always room for improvement. “It’s definitely gotten better,” Jones said. “Really just focusing on doing your job. I always say that, it’s pretty cliché, but really that’s what it comes down to. Regardless of the situation, once you start thinking about, like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to get this third down,’ or, ‘We need to score on this drive,’ I feel like a lot of people on our team sometimes think like that — and it’s hard to not think like that — but really just telling everybody, ‘Hey, just focus on your job on this play.’ And then once you look at it, the plays just add up.”

Jones always knew he wanted to play football at a high level

Highest-graded QBs since 2019:

? Mac Jones – 93.6
? Justin Fields – 93.5 pic.twitter.com/TILDtIUNdU

— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 5, 2021

Ever since he was 7 years old, Mac Jones knew football would be in his future. WVTM 13 obtained some of Jones’ elementary school writings and he was right on the money. As a 7-year-old, he already knew his calling.

“When I grow up I want to be a football plyr,” he wrote on Nov. 3, 2005. “I mit be in the NFL. I do not know wut team I will be non.” If you look beyond the spelling, Jones is spot on. For the record, Todd McShay has the Indianapolis Colts taking Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

On May 28, 2010, on the final day of fifth grade, Jones wrote another gem. In addition to writing about which three females he wanted to go the prom with, he was excited about how others perceived him. “I just won the award for the most likely to become the best all around athlete in the Class of 2017,” he wrote.