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Success, indeed, was the killer.
A.J. McCarron mourned the death of a dynasty last month by blasting Alabama's five-star entitlement to The Jim Rome Show. McCarron said young guys struggling with success contributed to the two-game losing streak to end the season, which seemed a bit odd on hte surface since upperclassmen comprised much of the starting lineup.
"They thought we'd just show up and we'd win,” McCarron said of the young players.
But while here at the NFL Combine, I wanted to follow up with some Alabama veterans to see if McCarron's sentiments were shared.
Turns out, according to two former players, A.J. was right.
Bama was straight-up entitled.
Maybe if Chris Davis doesn't go for 109 in Jordan-Hare, entitlement would have been camouflaged by a undefeated regular season and a fourth title chance in five years.
The young players, however, disrupted the team dynamic, wide receiver Kevin Norwood said.
That's why “I'm agreeing with A.J.,” Norwood said.
“You spend more time trying to get their minds right and letting them know it's not a bad thing getting redshirted,” Norwood said. “Me and A.J. got redshirted. It's not a bad thing…It was tough just getting (the underclassmen) to go to class and keeping them out of coach (Nick Saban's) bad side.”
Norwood said he went to his classes, not as a boast, but to point out the much-debated Saban ‘process' requires balance to succeed.
Alabama's recruiting has corraled the proverbial five-star talent with relative ease, which plays into Norwood's point. But it's not like Alabama hasn't recruited well in the past.
Left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio, however, says the small problems added up in 2013.
“We did have some problems off the field,” Kouandjio said. “We have a blueprint for success at Alabama, and everybody abides by it. There were a lot of things contributing. People not buying in is the root cause of it.”
Take that Auburn game, where Alabama had several costly, untimely penalties. Alabama players use this as an example -- an unfocused team pumps out more penalties than it should.
But Kouandjio isn't agreeing with A.J. and Norwood about the young guys. Or at least he doesn't feel like blasting them.
“I'm not going to blame the young guys. These are our young guys,” Kouandjio said. “Then again it's hard to come into a winning program and be humble.”
Blaming youth seems a convenient case for the late-season fall. The starters – the veterans – were sloppy in the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma.
To hear Norwood tell it, however, bad attitudes can permeate a locker room, affecting everyone.
And to think the talent on Alabama's roster was championship-caliber, Norwood said.
“It really was going to be a great team,” Norwood said. “I thought we were going to go all the way. Besides the distractions, everything else was on point."<iframe style="display: none;" allowtransparency="true" id="rufous-sandbox" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
#Alabama players at NFL combine: A.J. McCarron was right, we were entitled last season. http://t.co/NgqZsYPzTb
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerCBS) February 22, 2014
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerCBS) February 22, 2014
Success, indeed, was the killer.
A.J. McCarron mourned the death of a dynasty last month by blasting Alabama's five-star entitlement to The Jim Rome Show. McCarron said young guys struggling with success contributed to the two-game losing streak to end the season, which seemed a bit odd on hte surface since upperclassmen comprised much of the starting lineup.
"They thought we'd just show up and we'd win,” McCarron said of the young players.
But while here at the NFL Combine, I wanted to follow up with some Alabama veterans to see if McCarron's sentiments were shared.
Turns out, according to two former players, A.J. was right.
Bama was straight-up entitled.
Maybe if Chris Davis doesn't go for 109 in Jordan-Hare, entitlement would have been camouflaged by a undefeated regular season and a fourth title chance in five years.
The young players, however, disrupted the team dynamic, wide receiver Kevin Norwood said.
That's why “I'm agreeing with A.J.,” Norwood said.
“You spend more time trying to get their minds right and letting them know it's not a bad thing getting redshirted,” Norwood said. “Me and A.J. got redshirted. It's not a bad thing…It was tough just getting (the underclassmen) to go to class and keeping them out of coach (Nick Saban's) bad side.”
Norwood said he went to his classes, not as a boast, but to point out the much-debated Saban ‘process' requires balance to succeed.
Alabama's recruiting has corraled the proverbial five-star talent with relative ease, which plays into Norwood's point. But it's not like Alabama hasn't recruited well in the past.
Left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio, however, says the small problems added up in 2013.
“We did have some problems off the field,” Kouandjio said. “We have a blueprint for success at Alabama, and everybody abides by it. There were a lot of things contributing. People not buying in is the root cause of it.”
Take that Auburn game, where Alabama had several costly, untimely penalties. Alabama players use this as an example -- an unfocused team pumps out more penalties than it should.
But Kouandjio isn't agreeing with A.J. and Norwood about the young guys. Or at least he doesn't feel like blasting them.
“I'm not going to blame the young guys. These are our young guys,” Kouandjio said. “Then again it's hard to come into a winning program and be humble.”
Blaming youth seems a convenient case for the late-season fall. The starters – the veterans – were sloppy in the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma.
To hear Norwood tell it, however, bad attitudes can permeate a locker room, affecting everyone.
And to think the talent on Alabama's roster was championship-caliber, Norwood said.
“It really was going to be a great team,” Norwood said. “I thought we were going to go all the way. Besides the distractions, everything else was on point."<iframe style="display: none;" allowtransparency="true" id="rufous-sandbox" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
