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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/SurpriseSalami on 2025-06-05 13:11:29+00:00.
Hi - I have a buddy who’s a Bama alum/fan and he made the claim that AJ McCarron was a top 3 Bama QB of all time, specifically looking at his time in college and not considering the NFL career at all.
My initial thought was that’s absurd, Bama has an incredible QB history with names like Joe Namath, Bart Starr, & Ken Stabler historically with Tua & Bryce Young more recently. But there are some stats to back up his view:
- 3× BCS national champion (2009, 2011, 2012) (as some point out 2009 is a stretch, I just copied this from Wikipedia so that’s my bad)
- Maxwell Award (2013)
- Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (2013)
- Kellen Moore Award (2013)
- First-team All-American (2013)
- Third-team All-American (2012)
- 2× Second-team All-SEC (2012, 2013)
- all time career passing leader
- 9th all time in single season passing
- 3rd all time in passing touchdowns
- 6th & 7th in single season passing touchdowns
None of the names that sprang to mind are even close to that stats wise, and AJ does combine stats with 3x national championships- so it’s not like they’re stats without wins. And yes, I fully understand comparing across eras of football never really holds up.
Another friend (not a bama fan) said AJ was merely the bus driver of a juggernaut.
Thoughts from Bama & non-Bama fans? Is AJs flame out in the NFL clouding our view? We can, and should reminisce about Brent Musburger salivating over Katherine Webb and make fun of AJs tattoos, but as far as his legacy at Bama on the field, where does he rank?