Alabama football: 5 most underrated players in Crimson Tide history

A.J. McCarron‘s legacy at Alabama will be a complicated one. During the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa, there wasn’t a quarterback who was both overrated and underrated at the same time quite like McCarron. Though not the talent of Tua Tagovailoa or Jalen Hurts, he was certainly more impactful than Greg McElroy, Jacob Coker, Blake Sims or John Parker Wilson ever were.

McCarron first came to Alabama in 2009, where he redshirted during Saban’s first national championship. Before McCarron exhausted his eligibility, he would be part of three national championship-winning teams. Though mostly a game manager during his redshirt sophomore season on 2011, McCarron proved to be much more than that as upperclassmen.

McCarron led the 2011 and 2012 Crimson Tide to a pair of national championships with the latter of the two resulting in a 30-touchdown season in 14 starts. He’d be named All-SEC Second Team that season behind only Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M. As a redshirt senior, McCarron finally got some of the recognition he deserved in his college career individually.

He was a Heisman Trophy finalist, took home the Maxwell, the Johnny Unitas and was named an All-American. McCarron left Tuscaloosa in 2013 as one of the most prolific passers in school history, completing 66.8 percent of his passes for 9,019 yards, 77 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He ranks first in yardage and second in touchdown passes to only Tagovailoa.