It’s been a busy fall for St. Paul’s freshman linebacker Anthony “Tank” Jones.

The 14-year-old Mobile, Ala., star received a scholarship offer from Hugh Freeze and Auburn last week and earned one from two-time reigning national champion Georgia this week.

“He’s really grateful for everything,” St. Paul’s head coach Ham Barnett said. “When I told him about the offer from Georgia yesterday, the smile on his face lit up the room. He is just taking it day by day.

“It’s a lot of pressure to put on someone that young, but the good thing is he has really three years to decide where he wants to go. I just told him and his dad to just enjoy it, stay humble through the process and God will take care of it.”

Jones (6-4, 215) is too young to even have a star ranking yet.

However, in addition to Auburn and Georgia, he already has offers from Colorado, Liberty, Marshall, Mississippi State, UAB, Vanderbilt and South Alabama. Mississippi State offered Jones before his ninth-grade year.

“It’s fun to watch his excitement because he is not a very excitable guy overall,” Barnett said. “So, to see him smile the way he’s been smiling is pretty special. The young kids are coming up to him at school and saying, ‘Hey, Tank. There’s Tank,’ especially after he got the Auburn offer. I think a lot more of that is coming.”

Jones helped St. Paul’s to the Class 6A quarterfinals in 2022, his first year as a varsity football player. He was named AL.com’s Coastal Newcomer of the Year after registering 130 tackles and 15 sacks for the Saints. He also caught three touchdown passes on offense and returned an interception for a score. He was a second-team All-State selection.

“It’s pretty special to watch a 14-year-old making some of the plays he made,” Barnett said.

Barnett added, because of Jones’ youth, it’s hard to compare him to other great linebackers he has coached, seen or played against.

“We put him inside about Week 3 or 4 this year so he could run sideline-to-sideline and keep linemen off of him,” he said. “On third down, we have packages where we put him at end or 3 technique or weakside. At the end of the year, we started running Tampa 2 and putting him in the middle of the field about 8 to 10 yards back to cover the No. 3 receiver. There are a lot of things he does well.

“Of the guys I’ve coached or seen, he looks a little like a C.J. Mosley, but he is probably going to be a lot bigger. He could be a jack outside linebacker or an inside backer. It just depends on how he fills out.”

Jones said he sees himself as a defensive end or outside linebacker on the college level.

Where does he fit in for St. Paul’s?

“What I do with him in high school is, if it is an obvious run down, I’m putting him inside and, if it is a pass down, I’ll put him somewhere where he can rush the passer,” Barnett said. “I think that is probably what he’ll do on the next level as well. He has the smarts to play inside and the quickness to rush the passer.

“He does pretty much anything we ask him to do and what’s fun about it is he can pick it all up, too.”

Jones said it has taken him a little time to get used to the newfound recruiting attention.

“I wasn’t ready for it at first,” he said. “But it’s coming to me and now I’m getting used to. I don’t let it bother me. I just stay humble and keep working.”