Former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron says playing football in the NFL is much like starting for the Crimson Tide, according to a recent Q&A with USA Today’s Nina Mandell after his first year with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Then again Alabama football’s a way of life, McCarron says, and winning resonates with fans:
“Playing QB there, the way I put it I feel like it’s the same as the NFL because if you think about in Alabama, that’s all we have. We don’t have a professional team. The professional teams we have are Alabama and Auburn.
“… It’s like where I come from a lot of my friends and especially us, we didn’t have money growing up so a lot of people down South, that’s what they look forward to. An Alabama win or a national championship can change their bad year to a good year for them. They can be down on their luck and struggling or whatever and a good win seems like it solves all their problem and that’s what I love about it.”
McCarron, who recently celebrated his one-year wedding anniversary to Katherine Webb, went on to touch on Plaxico Burress’ recent tirade involving Nick Saban and mentioned his offseason training routine in Mobile, developing his game as a quarterback with a personal coach.
You can read For The Win’s interview, here.
