Kirk Herbstreit ‘Mac Jones Is A Surgeon’

The NFL draft is officially two weeks away and ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit offered some high praise for Mac Jones.

"Mac Jones is a surgeon," Herbstreit said. "Of all of these guys, because of the offense he is coming out of, he probably processes as quickly as anyone coming out of this draft. By processing, recognizing pre-snap coverage."

"He's got an assassin's mindset on the field," Herbstreit said. "He wants to eliminate you, much like Joe Burrow the year before. There's a lot to fall in love with."

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After sitting behind Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa for three seasons, Jones produced one of the greatest seasons for a quarterback in college football history. The Jacksonville, Florida native threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns versus only four interceptions in 2020. He finished third in the Heisman voting behind DeVonta Smith and Trevor Lawrence.

His 77.4 completion percentage broke the previous NCAA single-season record of 76.7 percent set by Colt McCoy in 2008. Also his 203.06 passer efficiency rating eclipsed the NCAA single-season record of 201.96 set by Joe Burrow in 2019.

Jones guided the Crimson Tide to a perfect 13-0 record and the school's 18th national championship.

"He really takes the time to study football, playbook and understanding film and how things work," said Herbstreit. " He was right there, ran aligned with Sark on everything he did. His accuracy on top of that with the ability to make quick decisions is just special. It's the best way to describe it."

"I don't care that he had a lot of talent around him or that guys were wide open," Herbstreit said. "The kid distributed the ball to people who were open, made good decisions and consistently was accurate."

Herbstreit called Jones a "perfect fit" for the San Francisco 49ers who traded up to the No. 3 pick in this month's draft.

The NFL draft is set to begin on Thursday, April 29th and will air on ESPN.