Looking ahead to his program’s first game of the 2018 college football season against Louisville, Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered high praise for Cardinals quarterback Jawon Pass.
He compared Pass to former Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, who’s now the franchise quarterback for the Carolina Panthers.
“I think he’s an outstanding, talented player,” Saban said, per AL.com. “Very, very good in high school. Has got great size. Very good arm talent. Very good athlete. He’s kind of a Cam Newton-looking type of guy out there and, when he had the opportunity to play last year, I thought he played very well and showed a lot of poise. They’ve got a very experienced offensive team, so I’m sure that that experience is going to help him and his confidence playing in that first game.”
That’s some heady stuff there, as it’s not like we see comparisons to Newton very often.
Pass does have the size and athleticism to draw that comparison, however, at 6-foot-4 and 231 pounds. He needs to step up in a big way Saturday if the Cardinals have any hope of backing up head coach Bobby Petrino’s bold prediction for this game.
A former four-star recruit out of Carver High School in Columbus, Georgia, Pass has shown up well when given a chance to play at Louisville. He appeared in five games for the Cardinals last year, including a very impressive extended showing against Murray State in which he completed 14-of-19 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.
So far in his career, Pass has completed 69.7 percent of his passes while throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions. However, the task of going up against the defending champs on Saturday will be unlike any other challenge he’s faced in his young life.