Alabama’s Christion Jones takes a kick back to the endzone for one of three touchdowns he scored against the Hokies. (UA photo)
Lightning may not strike twice. Alabama wide receiver and kick returner Christion Jones, however, does.
Even indoors at the Georgia Dome.
Jones returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown, on just the fourth play from scrimmage, and then a kick later in the third quarter for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Where was this explosive version of Jones last season? Apparently not there yet.
Time uncovered Alabama’s special teams weapon.
“I think people take for granted that, just because a guy has a lot of skill, that it doesn’t take experience to be a good returner,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “I think it does. It takes experience to know when to take the shot, to catch the ball and run with it and when to make a fair catch.
“Last year was Christion’s first time doing this stuff. He had some opportunities last year and he learned a lot from them.”
While Jones improved since the end of the 2012 season, the other 10 players on the field in return situations got better as well, and Jones gave the credit for those plays to them.
“The guys did a great job blocking for me, especially on special teams, so I give them all the credit for this night,” Jones said.
Except when they didn’t and Jones had to make a man miss.
“Luckily he broke it, because the first guy that tried to tackle him was my man, so I felt bad for that,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “I was running with him blocking for him, made me feel like I was fast.”
The night ended for Jones with a receiving touchdown, capping the night with 18 of Alabama’s 35 points and being named the National Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.
“They pressed and we took advantage of it,” Jones said of his receiving touchdown. “AJ did a great job of connecting with me with the deep ball. The offensive line did a good job of giving AJ the time to find me even though there was pressure.
“That’s every kid’s dream to come in and do things like that.”
Jones’ dream night was less dramatic for the Alabama coaching staff: Saban found the fireworks to be a simple realization of potential and goals than a once-in-a-season occurence.
“We want our return game to be a weapon for us and it surely was tonight,” Saban said.
That applies to the entire special teams unit, not just the return game.
“Special teams was great in this game,” Saban said. (Punter) Cody (Mandell) did a great job punting, our kickoff coverage was really good. To get a kickoff return and a punt return for a touchdown both in the same game is outstanding. We had a lot of big plays that changed field position in special teams and the coverage was great.
“The No. 1 goal in special teams is to control vertical field position and I think that was a big part of this game tonight.”
