30 best Alabama football players to play for Nick Saban

Best Alabama football players under Nick Saban: 4. AJ McCarron

The quarterbacks of the early Alabama days were not the top recruits they are now. They didn’t go in the first round of the NFL Draft, and they were more about the system than anything else. That doesn’t mean they weren’t good. A.J. McCarron was good at the position from 2011 to 2013. He was in a fight for the position at first with Phillip Sims. Once he was the clear winner of that competition, it was time to roll for Alabama.

McCarron might be defined by the stars of his era, but he was someone who helped this team win. It’s one thing to be surrounded by Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy, T.J. Yeldon, Kenyan Drake, Amari Cooper, O.J. Howard, and Derrick Henry, but it’s another thing to be the quarterback that keeps the train rolling with so many personalities wanting to touch the ball. These Alabama teams were great.

McCarron is the only quarterback to win undisputed back-to-back BCS National Championships (USC went back-to-back, but they shared the 2003 championship with LSU). He’s also the only quarterback under Saban to win back-to-back titles. Every other championship comes with at least a year in between without a championship.

In his three years as the starter, he had a different starting running back. They were all great, but he was able to take a contrasting style every year and only make plays when he was asked to do it on the spot. He was the offensive player of the game against LSU in the National Championship for the 2011 season. Then, against Notre Dame for the championship the next season, he threw for four touchdowns in a route. McCarron might not be the most well-known player, but he had one of the most important roles on those back-to-back winners.