As a quarterback at McLain High School in Tulsa, Okla., Joshua Jacobs had to shoulder the load for his offense.
In his final weeks as a freshman tailback at the University of Alabama, the 5-foot-10, 204-pounder is one piece of a star-studded attack that averages 471.3 yards and 40.5 points per game.
"In high school, I kind of had to make people miss before the line of scrimmage," Jacobs said. "Now I can see the lane and just run and get to the secondary. It's crazy."
Crazy is not a bad way to describe the past 12 months for Jacobs, who has rushed 83 times for 551 yards (6.6 per carry) and four touchdowns for the top-ranked Crimson Tide. On Monday they held the fourth of seven on-campus practices for their New Year's Eve national semifinal against Washington in the Peach Bowl.
An injury limited Jacobs to six games as a junior at McLain, but he made up for that in his senior year by rushing 179 times for 2,704 yards (15.1 per carry) and 31 touchdowns. His numbers, although eye-popping, were not accompanied by scholarship offers from major college powers.
Entering this past January, the biggest schools to offer Jacobs scholarships were Wyoming and New Mexico State, but that changed when Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops gave him the chance to be a Sooners receiver.
"As soon as that happened, we said, 'Here it goes,' and it did," Stoops told the Tulsa World in February.
Alabama got involved and did not have the proximity advantage for Jacobs compared to the Sooners, but the Crimson Tide invited him for an official visit and paired him with an early enrollee from Texas: quarterback Jalen Hurts.
"He's actually the one who toured me around," Jacobs said. "We clicked then. He was the first person I met."
Signing with Alabama and making inroads at Alabama were two different things, but Jacobs got opportunities in preseason camp to go against the experienced Crimson Tide defense as a backup for sophomore tailbacks Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough. The results were predictable at first, but Jacobs began to produce some moments that built his confidence.
"We go against the best every day, and if I can get hit by Reuben Foster and Ryan Anderson and can keep coming back, then I can get hit by anybody," he said. "That prepares you in a lot of ways, and it's an advantage that we have over most schools."
In Alabama's season opener, a 52-6 rout of Southern California at AT&T Stadium near Dallas, Jacobs had four carries for 20 yards. In the third game at Ole Miss, when the Tide rallied from a 24-3 deficit for a 48-43 triumph, he rushed three times for 33 yards.
Alabama's fourth game was an expected whitewash of Kent State, but Harris and Scarbrough suffered injuries in the first quarter and were sidelined. Jacobs was up for the task, rushing 11 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns in the 48-0 romp, and he came back the next week with 16 carries for 100 yards and a score in a 34-6 win over Kentucky.
"Joshua is a hard-working, very instinctive player," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said during the season. "He really understands how to press the hole and make cuts. He's got quickness. He's got a little burst and acceleration. He's got good hands.
"We needed one of our freshman backs to step up this year because we only had two guys left."
Jacobs proved in the 54-16 thumping of Florida at the Southeastern Conference championship game that he's more than just a tailback, snagging a blocked punt and racing 27 yards for a touchdown and a 16-7 lead late in the first quarter.
It's been a storybook year for Jacobs, who believes there is time for a couple more chapters.
"I'm happy, but I'm not satisfied, because there is a lot I can still work on," he said. "I'm happy with where I'm at given that there were people counting me out and telling me I could never play here, so that in itself has been huge."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.