Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron (10) passes the ball as linesman D.J. Fluker (76) blocks Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Ishaq Williams (11) during the first half of the 2013 BCS Championship game at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
Johnny Manziel is the most electrifying quarterback in the SEC. He’s got the hardware to prove it. However, there’s another quarterback in the SEC who probably wouldn’t trade anything in his career for a Heisman Trophy. Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron is a two-time national champion with a chance to cement his place in history as the favorites to win a third straight title in 2013.
When he arrived on campus, McCarron didn’t look the part of a big-time collegiate quarterback. Holding a couple of five-pound dumbbells, he might have tipped the scales at 185 lbs. He had the swoopy hair that we’ve come to know as an Alabama staple, and in every respect he came to Tuscaloosa as nothing more than a kid who could throw the football.
Now, entering his fifth season on campus, AJ McCarron is a man.
He weighs 220 lbs. and is said to have squatted 600 lbs. while benching 365 lbs. this offseason. He’s won a pair of BCS Championships and he’s very casually creeping into the conversation of all-time great winners.
Notice the “winner” label. At face value, it’s the one label every athlete would love to have, but in a way–specifically in AJ McCarron’s case–it’s also a backhanded compliment.
We don’t qualify AJ McCarron as an all-time great college football player or as an all-time great quarterback because he’s playing for this era’s most dominant program. And rather than being awe-inspiring like his friend and SEC QB colleague, Johnny Football, he has been a pillar of consistency.
Consistency fits perfectly with Alabama’s gameplan. Every year they win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and they flood their offensive and defensive backfields with size, speed and talent. That equation doesn’t call for AJ McCarron to be spectacular. It calls for him to be efficient.
He’s done that better than anybody throughout the course of his career.
Yet, for whatever reason we continue to make excuses for why AJ McCarron isn’t an elite QB. We call him a winner and a game-manager, effectively complimenting all he has accomplished, but making certain that any discussion of greatness is subjugated at the same time.
However, the reality is that McCarron is college football’s BIGGEST winner and BEST game-manager.
We’ve fallen in love with explosiveness, and there’s no question that watching Johnny Manziel and Braxton Miller do their thing on Saturday is about as entertaining as college football will ever get. They raise our heart rates and are often deserving of our slack-jawed admiration.
However, I hold AJ McCarron in equally high esteem. On the field, he quietly goes about his business, making decisions that ultimately put his team in the best position to win the football game. That sounds simple enough, but as he tries to cement his legacy, it must be difficult to resist the urge to “make something happen” and prove yourself as a play-maker on par with the Manziels and Millers of the world. Thus far, McCarron hasn’t let it bother him.
Off the field, McCarron doesn’t exactly go about his business all that quietly (though the media attention pails in comparison to his buddy over in College Station). He has the bombshell girlfriend and he’s been known to turn into a petulant child on Twitter. He’s got a couple questionable tattoos and he’s probably a little more outspoken than Nick Saban would like, although I’d suffice to say that any talking is probably too much talking in the eyes of Darth Saban.
Yet, in between those lines, McCarron is as mature as they come, and there’s something to be said for that. Being a star quarterback at the nation’s most passionate football school affords a man certain luxuries in life: pretty girlfriend, never-ending adoration and every other perk that goes with being the BMOC. However, AJ McCarron leaves all that outside the facility.
Inside he’s all business, and that’s why he’s earned the right to be considered one of the greatest college quarterbacks of his generation.