Tag Archives: Corey McCarron

President Barack Obama welcomes Alabama to the White House again

Posted on April 15, 2013 by | Comments Off

The Alabama football team is visiting President Barack Obama for the second time in as many years after this ceremony last year. (Copyright photo from the White House)

The Alabama football team is visiting President Barack Obama for the second time in as many years after this ceremony last year. (Copyright photo from the White House)

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron liked the White House so much on his last visit after the 2011 national championship, he wanted to come back. And told President Barack Obama he would be back, “next year.”

Now he is. The team departed from Tuscaloosa on Monday morning for a meeting with President Obama before the resumption of spring practice on Tuesday.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban expressed appreciation for President Obama’s hospitality during each of his teams’ visits.

“I think it’s special to our players. It’s a great opportunity for our players,” Saban said. “President Obama has always been really hospitable in terms of shaking hands with all the players and saying hello. They really, really do appreciate that and feel like that’s something special.”

Saban also plans on changing things up on this visit, giving the players going to Washington D.C. for the second or third time something new to experience outside of meeting the President.

“Well, what we’ve tried to do on each and every trip is expose the players to something a little bit different,” Saban said. “So after we got to the White House we’re going to go to the Smithsonian this time for an hour or two. We’ve been to several other different places and hopefully they’ll enjoy that part of it. This is something that is really special.”

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Football Practice Report: April 3, 2013

Posted on April 3, 2013 by | Comments Off
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Wide receiver DeAndrew White (left, black jersey) waits for his turn in drills after Kenny Bell (right). Copyright photo by Brett Hudson.

A late afternoon rain shower forced the Crimson Tide inside the Hank Crisp Practice Facility next door to the brand new weight room for its Wednesday practice. Here is the news:

- Amari Cooper is leading the wide receiver in drills. He is followed up by DeAndrew White who seems to be running fine after tearing his ACL last season. Chris Black is third coming back from his shoulder injury, while Kenny Bell is fourth and true freshman Raheem Falkins is fifth, before the scout team comes in from there.

Alabama does have Eddie Jackson and Robert Foster coming in for the fall as true freshmen.

- The drills also revealed some depth chart decisions made the the tight end and H-Back positions. Brian Vogler as the starting tight end alongside Harrison Jones as the first H-Back. Tight end Malcolm Faciane practiced with H-Back O.J. Howard as the second team and on the third team was tight end Kurt Freitag alongside H-Back Corey McCarron.

- Contact seems to be picking up in preparation for the first spring scrimmage, as we saw the outside linebackers go to battle with the tight ends and H-Backs in some rough blocking drills today.

- Cornerback John Fulton was off the exercise bike and doing some light running drills in his first practice activity after injuring his toe against Texas A&M last season. He was not doing much, but he was moving. You can see video of that below.

Kevin Norwood, also trying to come back from a toe injury, is still out of practice.

- The wide receivers were doing a jump ball drill today, which I have never seen them do before. That could be something new wide recivers coach Billy Napier brought from Florida State. You can also see that drill in the video below.

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Current, former players reflect on Mal Moore

Posted on March 30, 2013 by | Comments Off

Some of the players that are currently succeeding or have recently done so under former Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore expressed their gratitude for his work…but did not do so through statements. They left that to their coaches and other superiors, statements you can see by clicking here.

They did what most 20-something year olds would do: took to Twitter.

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Spring Football Practice Report: March 22, 2013

Posted on March 22, 2013 by | Comments Off

Alabama quarterbacks Blake Sims (6) and AJ McCarron (10) practice in the final Alabama football spring practice before spring break. (Copyright photo by Brett Hudson)

Alabama quarterbacks Blake Sims (6) and AJ McCarron (10) practice in the final Alabama football spring practice before spring break. (Copyright photo by Brett Hudson)

The Crimson Tide suited up for the first time under new Athletic Director Bill Battle just a few hours after his introduction, with Battle in attendance, to continue spring practice. This was the Tide’s final practice before spring break.

Here is the news:

– In a surprising twist (to me, at least), cornerback Bradley Sylve was practicing alongside returning starter Deion Belue, relegating Geno Smith to the second team in individual drills alongside Jabriel Washington. No word on if this is a permanent thing, but it is an interesting development at the very at least.

– In the tight end/H-Back rotation, Brian Vogler was leading the pack alongside Malcolm Faciane. It appeared that Harrison Jones and true freshman O.J. Howard were leading the second-team while Corey McCarron tries to fight his way into the rotation. The five have yet to be assigned to either the tight end of H-Back position for the fall, so no depth chart decisions can be made until those positions are relegated.

– This practice was the first time I have seen John Fulton without a protective boot on his foot as he nurses his toe injury. Both Fulton and wide receiver Kevin Norwood are trying to come back from toe injuries in time for some spring practice before A-Day. Norwood was still in crutches.

– Backup quarterback Blake Sims was practicing fully after doing nothing but spectating as recently as Monday. Why he was as inactive as he was on Monday in unknown, but he seems to be back to practicing normally.

– Wide receiver Christion Jones and running back Dee Hart continue to practice with the defensive backs.

– In the video below, you can see new Athletic Director Bill Battle attending practice, plus the running backs, defensive backs, quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends going through drills.

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Alabama 2013 Pro Day: Pupils turning to teachers for next generation

Posted on March 13, 2013 by | Comments Off

Amongst the hordes of statewide media and NFL scouts, a certain crowd of VIPs was almost lost: the current members of the Alabama football team, those that are not en route to a National Football League city after April’s draft.

Players made their excitement to attend clear.

Former Alabama defensive end Damion Square remembers being in their shoes and is openly bitter than an injury took away his turn to perform in the spectacle.

“It kind of hurts me to watch and I can’t perform,” Sqaure said. “I want to put my best foot forward out here. I want to coach my guys up and watch their mistakes and hopefully take it in and get better from it.”

Square still hopes to use his experience on-the-field for Pro Day to help the upcoming NFL talent.

“I’m a team guy. I support my guys,” he said. “We grinded hard over the last five years that I’ve been here. I want these guys to get the results that they want. Me, myself, too.”

Alabama head coach Nick Saban could not help but to look ahead at the future, as well.

“I think all of our guys would like to have the opportunity some day to develop a career as a football player, which means can they play at the next level,” Saban said. “I don’t think that’s a bad motivator as long as you keep the priorities of being a good person, doing what you need to do to develop a career off the field by graduating from school and being motivated to develop a career as a football player. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

“To see guys before you and know how hard they’ve worked, the kind of success they had individually and team success, which all contributes to guys getting opportunities, I think is a good thing.”

To see what the players in the event did, click here to see the players run the 40-yard dash, click here to see video of other drills and click here to see some video of Jesse Williams’ activity.

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AJ McCarron talks playing with little brother, Nick Saban’s sense of humor and more on Dan Patrick Show

Posted on March 7, 2013 by | Comments Off

In an interview on The Dan Patrick Show (Twitter), Alabama starting quarterback delves into why he “didn’t talk to Coach Saban,” about leaving Alabama early for the 2013 NFL Draft.

McCarron also has some interesting things to say on his girlfriend, Katherine Webb, and her appearance in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition plus his budding friendship with Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.

The interview is 10 minutes long, and truly worth your time.

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After getting a break, McCarron ready for BCS game, senior season

Posted on December 22, 2012 by | Comments Off
Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron has led the Tide to a 12-1 record. (AP photo by Bill Haber)

AJ McCarron has led the Tide to a 12-1 record. (AP photo by Bill Haber)

This is my story for today’s print editions:

—

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The Crimson Tide got a 17-day break between the SEC Championship Game and the start of BCS practice, and maybe few Crimson Tide players needed it more than AJ McCarron.

There’s no particular injury he needed to heal, but just the general feeling that he could use some time off after playing 13 games in 14 weeks.

“I needed it a lot,” McCarron said. “I love this game, but we play it all year long. At some point you need a break. So it was good, but it was good for everybody else, for everybody get their feet back under them and try to get rid of little nagging injuries we had throughout the team, so I thought it was a good break.”

The 22-year-old junior joked he has creaked around like an old man, which even has offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier poking a little fun at him.

“It’s just getting old and being sore. Feel like I’ve been here 15 years,” McCarron said. “Coach Nuss always jokes with me, says I’m a 19 year veteran. Some days, I feel like it.”

McCarron announced last week he will play more football at Alabama — and not just the BCS National Championship Game against Notre Dame on Jan. 7. He will return next season for his senior year.
Why announce it now? According to McCarron, it made sense. As he prepares for the BCS game, he won’t have to deal with the question.

“I just wanted to get it out of the way. I’m tired of people asking me about it,” McCarron said. “You know, family members, you get a call every once in a while, friends or whatever, but my brother (sophomore tight end Corey McCarron), he’s here now and has a real good opportunity to play and I wanted to play with him, really.”

Also, there’s the chance to grow, which he said he wants to do.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to showcase my talents a little bit more next year,” he said. “And just grow as a quarterback and a leader.”

He said he considered heading to the NFL briefly, unlike teammate C.J. Mosley, who said he didn’t give it a thought before announcing he will return for the 2013 season.

“I felt like the NFL isn’t going anywhere, so I want to get one more chance to play with him (Corey McCarron), so I wanted to make that happen,” he said.

It was the BCS game a year ago when Alabama put more of the game plan in McCarron’s hands than the Tide had at any point in the season. He wound up completing 23 of 34 passes for 234 yards in a 21-0 win over LSU. He won offensive most valuable player honors as a result.

“Last year we put a lot of faith, trust and confidence in him,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “We knew we were going to have a difficult time running the ball against the team that we played last year, LSU, and the quarterback was going to have to make plays in the game for us.

“We sort of just told him that, ‘We’re trusting in you. We believe in you that you can do this. We just don’t want you to force things. Just take what they give you. A lot of the passes that we’re going to have are going to be maybe not big plays but they’re going to be plays that are 5- and 7-yard gains.’ He did a tremendous job of executing and made some big plays.”

Saban said he hopes McCarron and his offense can do something similar this year against Notre Dame. But Saban won’t put it all on his quarterback.

“I’ve said it many times before, quarterback’s a tough position to play when the guys around you don’t play well,” he said. “I think our entire team has got to make it possible for the quarterback to be able to make plays.”

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