Jim Nagy has spent his life evaluating college players, first as a pro scout and now as the executive director of the Senior Bowl.

Two of the best route-runners in recent memory, Nagy observed, came from a program located not far from his current base of operations. Just up the road from Mobile, in Tuscaloosa, Amari Cooper and Calvin Ridley transformed themselves into first-round picks by refining their technique.

Now, Jerry Jeudy is in line to do the same.

The Crimson Tide’s star wideout has emerged as one of the top prospects for the 2020 draft, in part, because he is a master at his craft.

“Jeudy is a great route-runner,” Nagy said. “That’s his calling card for sure.”

Jeudy’s body control and ability to use controlled movements to neutralize tight coverage has made him into Alabama’s premier playmaker. In the Tide’s 42-3 victory over Duke in the season opener, Jeudy’s versatility was on full display as he led Alabama with 10 catches for 137 yards and lined up in slot for the same number of snaps — 21 — as he did out wide.

“If he can play all the spots, that means he has the whole route tree,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “He’s good inside, he’s good outside, he’s good against man-to-man. He’s very instinctive against zone. So the guy’s a real good player and we certainly need to try to get all the guys on offense that have play-making ability enough touches that they get opportunities to make plays. And he’s one of those guys.”

But Jeudy, who was deemed the nation’s best receiver in 2018 when he won the Biletnikoff Award, is actually a cut above.

Asked to rate Jeudy’s route-running ability, Alabama defensive back Shyheim Carter smiled.

“Ten out of ten,” he responded.

When pushed to explain why Jeudy is so good at that aspect of his game, Carter said, “His releases,the stemming of the route, in and out of breaks, the separation, all of it.”

This repertoire didn’t just develop overnight.

Jeudy has shown unusual dedication to the discipline of tracing good patterns.

There are video cutups of him training in the sand, going through his steps. Even beyond practice, Jeudy is pushing to improve his technique. His quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, said he will spend extra time on the field so that Jeudy can approach the kind of perfection he desires.

“Me and Jerry, a good amount of times, come up here by ourselves, just working on not only timing, but just working on the route tree. If he hasn't ran a route he felt comfortable doing, we do it again on our own spare time, so that's how it correlates.”

As a freshman in 2017, according to ProFootballFocus.com, Jeudy was targeted on a greater selection of routes than all but one of his teammates, which — fittingly — was Ridley. They included hitches, comebacks, posts and slants. When he wasn’t busy going out for a pass, Jeudy says his eyes were trained on his older teammate, who like him hails from South Florida.

“I watched him a lot,” Jeudy said of Ridley. “I watched him since high school all the way to the NFL now. He really helped me improve in my game, too.”

Now others — especially NFL evaluators — are looking at Jeudy and tracking his every move.

What they’ll see is a player who doesn’t succeed because he has vastly superior speed or strength but instead thrives as a result of his commitment to the craft of running crisp routes.

Said Nagy, “That’s absolutely his best trait.”

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin