Alabama junior receiver Jerry Jeudy had a lot of people debating whether he should play against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day.
According to Jeudy, it wasn't a difficult decision at all.
"I had no second thoughts about it," the 6-foot-1, 192-pounder from Deerfield Beach, Florida, said last week in a news conference. "I really knew that whatever bowl game we were playing in that I would be playing. No matter what game it was, I was going to play.
"It's football. I'm taking it as another game to get better and compete."
Jeudy has plenty of reasons to play against the Wolverines but had plenty of reasons to skip the Orlando contest as well. Two of his Crimson Tide teammates, senior cornerback Trevon Diggs and redshirt junior outside linebacker Terrell Lewis, have elected to bypass the bowl to get a head start on their goal of becoming NFL players.
Diggs and Lewis have dealt with significant injuries since arriving in Tuscaloosa, so their decisions are certainly understandable, but Jeudy believes playing in the Citrus Bowl outweighs the inherent risk of potentially getting hurt. Jeudy, who is expected to forgo his senior season, could be the first Alabama player taken at the 2020 NFL draft in Las Vegas.
The Sporting News released a mock draft Monday that had Jeudy going second overall to the Washington Redskins behind LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who is the favorite to go No. 1 to the Cincinnati Bengals. Alabama's fellow junior receivers - Henry Ruggs III and DeVonta Smith - have been projected in early rounds as well and also have elected to play next week.
"I know some people were probably thinking we should sit out, but we really weren't focusing on listening to what other people had to say," Jeudy said. "We came here to do something, and we're going to finish what we're doing. We want to re-establish our identity, because we didn't finish the way we wanted to."
Alabama is coming off a 10-2 regular season that was capped by a 48-45 loss at Auburn, which was a thrilling triumph for the Tigers but a monumental setback for the Tide, given that it assured the program of not reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time. Jeudy had only five receptions for 26 yards in the Iron Bowl and had a dropped ball as well.
Jeudy entered this season as the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner and was on pace to earn a second such trophy after catching 10 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown in the opening win over Duke and eight throws for 103 yards and three scores in the second game against New Mexico State. Alabama's depth at receiver then took over, as Smith had a program-record 274 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns in a 59-31 win over Ole Miss, and sophomore Jaylen Waddle tallied three receiving touchdowns and had a 98-yard kickoff return for a score in the Iron Bowl.
Though he has amassed a team-high 71 receptions, topping the 68 he compiled last season, Jeudy has not come close to matching the 1,315 yards or the 19.3 yards per catch from a year ago. His 959 yards were good enough to warrant Biletnikoff semifinal status and All-America recognition from the American Football Coaches Association, but Ruggs (18.92), Smith (18.46) and Waddle (17.28) each has produced noticeably higher averages than Jeudy's 13.51-yard clip.
CBS recently bumped Jeudy behind Clemson's Tee Higgins in its projection of draft-eligible receivers, so perhaps Jeudy can use the Citrus Bowl as a final stage to prove he's the premier college receiver. Jeudy, Ruggs and Smith all could be representing the Tide for the last time.
"Everybody is focused," Jeudy said. "This is not a game you would choose to play in, but it's how this season ended. It's still important. It's our last game, and it's a bowl game. Every game is important."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.