Why don’t Alabama Crimson Tide quarterbacks have pro potential?
There’s been a drought in Alabama. The Alabama Crimson Tide quarterbacks have gone some time without winning a Championship. Not a college championship. They’ve gone decades without winning a world championship, a Super Bowl.
For a while, the Crimson’s quarterbacks were dominating pro football. Between Joe Namath and Bart Starr, the Tide won the first three Super Bowls. Ken Stabler won Super Bowl XI in 1977. Jeff Rutledge won Super Bowls XXI and XXVI. Since Rutledge’s 1992 victory, an Alabama quarterback hasn’t won the Super Bowl. It’s odd to measure a college’s success in terms pro success, and yet it’s the natural order of things. Good college teams are often measured partially by their players’ pro success.
Following Rutledge, the Crimson quarterback crop has been poor, maybe pathetic. There hasn’t even been a Pro Bowler.
One cause for the precipitous drop could be the dip in Alabama’s National Championship wins. The days of Bear Bryant were fruitful. The days of Nick Saban are fruitful. Everything else, well, not so much. Between the 1979 and 2009 championships, there was only one, which was a victory in 1992 with Gene Stallings as skipper. The drop in elite caliber teams could be one indicator for the fall in elite caliber quarterbacks. But by that logic, shouldn’t the recent influx of Sabanite quarterbacks produce a Super Bowl winner?
His quarterbacks haven’t had great success in the pros. While success in college often meant success in the pros back in the early stages of the league, it’s clearly not so anymore.
Five quarterbacks have come and left under Nick Saban’s regime. That says one of two things. There is so much depth at the position that players must transfer to see time (which is most likely). The other possibility is that players recognize that they aren’t going to make it to the pros in Saban’s anti-pro pipeline. Though, it’s not like the transfers are brimming with success elsewhere. They have mostly fallen off the map since. Star Jackson, Luke Del Rio, Parker McLeod are the latest. They’re not household names — or even recognizable.
Despite all the attention and scouting that Alabama quarterbacks get, they are on a unwritten “do not draft list.” There’s something smelly about them.
There was a previous piece written about the failed USC quarterbacks that wrestled with a very similar conundrum. USC quarterbacks struggled just like Bama’s. All of the theories proposed by Senior Columnist Mike Freeman are applicable to both USC and Bama pro prospects.
There’s the spoiled brat complex — nominally, that’s more a USC thing (University of Spoiled Children). But you’d be kidding yourself if you thought Alabama players weren’t spoiled. If they weren’t coddled and ego-inflated before they arrived at Alabama, they will experience life’s fuzzy-filled center as an Alabama football player. Saban is though — Alabama’s student body isn’t.
Next is the weather theory. It’s hot in the south, so put a check in that box. The good coach theory. Nick Saban? Check that box, too. Finally, the Uber-talent theory (meaning those that surround the quarterbacks are Uber-talented). Consider that in Greg McElroy’s draft class, there were five Alabama players selected. McElroy landed in the disgraceful seventh round. The second lowest pick, Mark Ingram was selected 29th overall. In other words, the four others were picked in the first round. McElroy was the sole outlier in the seventh. And the Alabama wide receivers aren’t exactly struggling. Julio Jones is killing it for the Falcons. Amari Cooper is and will continue to be insanely talented.
All the talent at the other positions boosts their production. And frankly, Saban seems to win games despite his quarterbacks — not because of it. His system doesn’t require an alpha-quarterback. It requires game managers. If one of them can sling the rock — like AJ McCarron — then so be it. He’ll have to conform to the system.
The latest failed QB? Greg McElroy. He struggled on a Jets team that could and can’t get anyone to settle into the position, depending on Geno Smith’s success. Perhaps there was no way for McElroy to succeed on the Jets. But if Andrew Luck went to the Jets, would he turn things around? Absolutely. It tends to be all or nothing in the NFL. You win and you win with grace. Or else, you’re out. McElroy belongs at the ESPN SEC Nation desk with fellow former-Jet quarterback Tim Tebow.
The latest draft pick? McCarron. The jury is still out on the fifth-round pick. He will continue to go unevaluated if Andy Dalton continues to play well. Still, few quarterbacks drafted as backups spend a great deal of time as starters. It seems like McCarron has more Ryan Fitzpatrick in him than Colin Kaepernick. If there was any quarterback with the right tools to eventually be a Super Bowl winner it would be McCarron. But still, it’s a stretch.
The next in line? Blake Sims and Jake Coker — which isn’t encouraging for the Alabama pipeline. Sims has played well but his mechanics are ugly. He could throw in a phone booth if it were the size of a living room. He won’t be a well respected prospect, and may remind pro scouts of former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith. Coker is a curious case. He is a pro-style passer and might have potential in the pros, yet he failed to beat out Blake Sims. It seemed like Saban wanted Coker to play — it would make for a more versatile offense. But Sims won the job. So if Coker couldn’t beat out Sims, then there’s no evidence that he has any pro potential. Coker deserves a look, but at this point, expectations are low.
If history is any indicator, all of these National Championships mean that an elite former-Alabama quarterback will be born. It’s just that Herculean figure hasn’t appeared on the crimson horizon. The way Saban uses his quarterbacks, he might appear mortal while at Alabama, only to explode with potential in the pros.
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