Julio Jones was cautious before he tried speaking to Alabama football’s current wide receivers. JaMarcus Shephard put an end to that.

“I just respect him so much,” the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach said Wednesday of one of UA’s all-time greats. “Because he came to me and said, ‘Hey coach, you know I was at the last game… and said hey, I was on the verge of saying something to the guys and talking to them and saying certain things to them, and I refrained from it, because I didn’t want to step on your toes,’ is basically what he was saying.”

Shephard joined Alabama this season as wide receivers coach. He followed Kalen DeBoer from Washington when the Tide’s head coach took over for Nick Saban in January.

He quickly dispelled Jones’ tentativeness.

“I made it extremely clear, hey Julio, I played zero snaps in the National Football League,” Shepard said. “OK? Zero. And you’re one of the greatest wide receivers that really, any of them have really ever known. No, you’ve earned that right by what you did here at the University of Alabama and what you did in the National Football League. You would actually be doing me a disservice by not talking to them.

“So no, you say whatever during the game, after the game, before the game. If you want me to be quiet Julio, you got it. You do whatever you want to do.”

Jones was one of Saban’s first big recruits when he chose the Crimson Tide ahead of the 2008 season. The Foley native remains one of the top receivers in Alabama history, after helping the team to Saban’s first national title in 2009, and going to the Atlanta Falcons in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

He was named to the NFL’s 2010s all-decade team, led the league in receiving twice, made seven Pro Bowls and was a first-team all-pro in 2015 and 2016.

Jones most recently played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023.

“When you talk about Julio Jones, yeah, that’s the cream rising to the top,” Shephard said. “So I’m trying to get my guys to emulate the things that he did, not only at Alabama, but in the National Football League.”

Jones wasn’t the only former Crimson Tide great in attendance for the Georgia game, which Alabama won 41-34 to remain undefeated. Wednesday, Shephard said the presence of former players, like Jones and former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, was an asset in recruiting.

“No other program is going to give you the opportunity to raise your brand and what you do than what the University of Alabama, but they’re living proof of it,” Shephard said. “Sometimes you can tell young people something, but until they can touch it, feel it, sometimes they don’t know and understand how much of a difference (it makes).”

Alabama returns to action at 3:15 p.m. CT Saturday against Vanderbilt in Nashville. The game will be aired on the SEC Network.