iStockphoto / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Mac Jones decommitted from Kentucky to attend Alabama.
At one point in his recruitment, Mac Jones was a Kentucky football pledge. He’d later leave the class to commit to Alabama. He admits to singlehandedly halting the program’s momentum on the trail.
A Top 10 class lost talent after the quarterback’s decision to bail. Making matters worse, he admits that his mom bullied the Wildcats into making an offer.
There may be a bit of revisionist history here, though it’s common to see highly rated signal callers dictate recruiting success. Jones insists that his decommitment had lasting impacts.
Mac Jones was once committed to Kentucky.
He opened up on his recruitment in a recent podcast segment with Bussin’ with the Boys. The passer committed to play for the Wildcats in 2015. Kentucky was one of his first big offers.
According to his 247 Sports’ recruiting timeline, East Carolina was the first to offer a scholarship in May of ’15. The Wildcats followed suit a month later. Jones says his mom played a role.
“What’s the deal?” Holly Jones asked the coaching staff while on a camp visit. “Mac doesn’t have any offers. He was clearly the best quarterback at the camp.”
“She pretty much told them, ‘Stop being a b—- and offer him,'” Jones says. “(The coach) was like, ‘Alright, we will. We’re offering him a scholarship to Kentucky. Congratulations.'”
Jones jumped at the offer. He committed to the school the next month. He’d stay in the boat for a little less than a year.
In June of 2016, he flipped to Alabama. That decision had a direct impact on the Kentucky class, the passer says.
“I ended up decommitting. We had a Top 10 class. I would DM guys and say, ‘Sign to Kentucky.’ I was trying to get the whole class built up. We were a Top 10 class by the end of it, which is huge for Kentucky. Then, I decommitted, and like 10 guys decommitted. So, Kentucky people hate me.”
Revisionist history?
As I mentioned earlier, Jones’s story may be a bit exaggerated. 247 Sports says only one committed player left the class after the quarterback’s decommitment. That was three-star athlete Russ Yeat.
Yeat later enrolled at Louisville where he played defensive back. He ended his career at Kansas State and was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Jones’s decision may or may not have played a role. A pair of four-star recruits left the class a couple of weeks before the passer bailed. Neither followed Jones.
Michael Warren went to Cincinnati. James Hudson enrolled at Michigan before joining Warren in Ohio. Maybe they knew about Jones’s Alabama interest.
Jones’s decision might’ve impacted undecided recruits weighing their options. Kentucky still finished with a strong class headlined by Lynn Bowden and Josh Paschel. Those recruits would win 40 games across the next five years.
One thing was missing from that group, though – consistency under center. Mac Jones would’ve been in a Kentucky QB room with starter Terry Wilson.
While Wilson led the Wildcats to 10 wins in his first year, he was not a legitimate passing threat. He never topped 2,000 yards in a season, though he was dangerous with his legs. Win totals declined in each of his three seasons on campus.
Jones might’ve been able to steady the ship. His presence might’ve allowed the program to compete for an SEC title, particularly looking at the 2018 season. Success would’ve had recruiting impacts.
We’ll never know. Jones instead went to Alabama where he led the nation in passing as a junior and won a national title. The Wildcats watched him from the sidelines after going 5-6.