Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron knows what it takes to win at the collegiate level.
McCarron played on three different championship-winning Alabama teams during his time at the university, winning the BCS National Championship in 2010, 2012, and 2013. In 2013, he won the Maxwell Award and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
This week on the McCready and Siskey podcast, McCarron explained that college athletes now face too many off-the-field opportunities, specifically TikTok and NIL, making football less of a team game. McCarron feels that this is a change for the worse. He said that while this is evident nationwide, it’s part of the reason that Kalen DeBoer has struggled in his first year as head coach of the Tide.
“I think, for sure, the standard that everybody was used to for so long after Alabama fans went through a bunch of hell leading up to those glorious years, I think it’s definitely a different era. I don’t think you’ll see the same standard from discipline, just things that the team seems to do. It’s a new day and age. Everybody’s worried about f***** Tik Tok and having a reel and being on highlights for their personal self and personal gain, and how much money they can get from NIL. We just didn’t have that **** back then. It was a team sport,” McCarron said via On3.
McCarron went on to clarify that it’s not necessarily the coaching staff’s fault. We live in a different time than we did when he played.
“Winning attracts people to that program, it attracts scouts, it attracts GMs, it attracts ownership to allow yourself that opportunity to go make yourself a lot of money and change your family tree for a long period of time. You can just tell. It’s not the same. I would think Bama fans should get used to that in a way of, hey, it’s not gonna be what you knew from 2008 up until last year where there was just a certain standard. That’s not a knock on the coaching staff or a knock on anybody. It’s just a different era. I think it’s something that they’re going to have to buckle up if they’re not ready for it,” the quarterback added.
Alabama is 5-2 this season and 2-2 in SEC play, taking losses to the Vanderbilt Commodores and Tennessee Volunteers. They’ll look to get back on track when they host the Missouri Tigers this weekend.
