When New England Patriots QB Mac Jones left Alabama in 2021, he left a Crimson Tide team that just won a national championship. He also left a strong impression on his younger teammates on that 2020 National Championship team.

Will Anderson, who played with Jones at Alabama, recalled how the now New England Patriots quarterback showed a strong sign of leadership in one of his first practices with the Crimson Tide in 2020.

“True story: Mac Jones was a great teammate,” Anderson said when asked about Jones on Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “When I first got there, we were doing a fourth quarter [drill], and I had an earlier role. I think his nose was bleeding. He had a tissue in his nose. I was like, ‘Oh, this joker’s tough.'

“So I’m walking around. I’m dog tired. I’m like, ‘Man, this is what Alabama football’s about.’ And he’s walking, he walks up to me and he says, ‘Stars don’t matter here.’ I was like, ‘What did I do? I didn’t even do anything.'”

There was actually a photo from that moment that went viral shortly after, with Jones' bloody nose dripping down to his shirt. Jones' nickname at Alabama was “Joker,” too, which might be way Anderson called him that.

Anderson learned a lesson though about Jones that day.

“But that just shows the type of leader he was and the type of person he was,” Anderson said. “And that just made me want to keep going even more.”

Patriots' Mac Jones left strong impressions

Anderson wasn't the only former teammate of Jones' at Alabama to rave about him at the combine on Wednesday. Defensive tackle Byron Young, who played with Jones on the 2019 and 2020 Alabama teams, also remembered how strong of a leader Jones was with the Crimson Tide.

“He was a great guy… a guy who would talk to anybody. He was a great leader on the National Championship team,” Young said. “Even when he wasn’t starting, Tua [Tagovailoa's] year when he was there my freshman year, he was still a great person. He was great in the locker room. Even when he wasn’t starting, he came to work every single day and just waited for his opportunity.”

Defensive tackle D.J. Dale remembered the strong presence Jones had in the locker room over the two seasons he played with him at Alabama.

“It was fun. Mac Jones is a guy I feel like every locker room needs,” Dale said. “He gets along with everyone. He’s a great person, a great leader. It was great to have him as a leader on the team.”

The comments from Jones' former Alabama teammates aren't the only time he's been praised by someone he's played with this week. On Monday, Patriots safety Devin McCourty gave a strong defense of Jones as he's been scrutinized in recent weeks for how the 2022 season went.

“What I love about Mac is that Mac came into a leadership role as a quarterback and he speaks to what he thinks,” McCourty said on NFL Network's “Good Morning Football.” “I think what people don’t always understand, in our locker room, Bill pushes that. We’re in the captains’ meeting every week, [and he’ll say] ‘If you don’t like something, tell us and we’ll throw it out.’ Because what’s the point of players going out there and saying, as soon as that call comes in, ‘I know we hate this call but …’ No one wants to be out there with that.”