Montgomery Advertiser

TUSCALOOSA — The first time was also the last time for Jerry Jeudy.

If there were jukes to be made, he was going to be on the delivering end of them.

But that first one wasn’t as kind to the Alabama sophomore receiver who’s made a living this season with several open-field juke moves on unsuspecting defensive backs, enough for one enterprising fan to make into viral 30-second highlight reel that already has more than 1.3 million views in the two days it’s lived on social media.

Growing up in their native Broward County, Fla., Jeudy and Lamar Jackson — the former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Louisville — used to square off against one another in “backyard” football games where there was no tackling in the street, but the grass meant no holds barred.

It was there on a thin neighborhood street in South Florida that Jackson, now in his rookie season with the Baltimore Ravens, first unleashed a trademark juke move that Jeudy has since adopted and made a staple of his own dynamic repertoire.

“Actually, when I was younger, Lamar Jackson … hit me with one of those moves before, and ever since then, I took it from him and started adding it to my game,” Jeudy recalled Tuesday.

When asked to elaborate, Jeudy said simply: “He shook me.”

“It was on the street, like a small little street, (where) if you’re on the grass, you’re going to get hit, (and) if you’re on concrete, they’re not going to hit you,” Jeudy said. “So, it’s a real small space, (and) having a small space helps you out with knowing how to juke and stuff.”

As one of 11 semifinalists for this year’s Biletnikoff Award, presented annually to the nation’s top receiver, Jeudy’s flashed his playmaking ability at nearly every opportunity this season, leading the top-ranked Crimson Tide in receiving with 45 catches for 925 yards and 10 touchdowns through 10 games.

Jeudy’s big-play potential aside, including ranking fifth nationally and first in the SEC averaging 20.56 yards per reception this season, it’s been his ability to make opposing defenders miss, often in jaw-dropping fashion, that has even caught his own teammates by surprise at times.

“We see it at practice, so when I see him start up, I’m already knowing what he’s about to do it, so when he does it, I’m like, ‘Man …,’” junior running back Josh Jacobs said of Jeudy.

The viral video making the rounds on Twitter, which begins with a now-infamous step-back juke against LSU that sent Tigers’ linebacker Michael Divinity Jr. flying headfirst into three of his teammates on Jeudy’s 29-yard catch-and-run late in the second quarter of the 29-0 shutout two weeks ago, shows six of his best juke moves of the season.

The video, posted by @ReveiverLife_ on Sunday, even caught the attention of Jackson, who quote-tweeted’s it to his younger childhood friend with the caption: “@jerryjeudy … yea I remember them moves.”

“I would say he’s definitely top three on the team,” Jacobs said of Jeudy’s juke-ability. “He’s probably one of the most elusive in the nation right now, if you were to rate them. It’s always special to see what he does with the ball in his hands.”

Of course, Jeudy has challengers within his own position group at Alabama, where freshman sensation Jaylen Waddle has repeatedly shown his own affinity for making open-field moves on opposing defenders during several eye-opening plays this season.

And while there’s yet to be any sort of “juke-off” at practice this season, it’s safe to say there’s a friendly competition between the two Tide takedown artists.

“I mean, they kind of talk about it,” Jacobs said. “Each position group always has, like, a little internal thing that they try to do, so I know they discuss it.”

The video, and its source material, only further highlights what has made Jeudy so special in his sophomore season, while also infusing some levity into Alabama’s locker room this week.

“Yeah, they’ll be making some jokes and stuff,” Jeudy said of his teammates, “or they’ll see me and give me a juke move, something like that.”