You'll have to trust my judgment on this one. Greg and I have been communicating since right after he signed.
We are OK. In fact, better than OK.
Do you agree that it is safe to say, that Nick Saban's policies concerning upperclassmen in skill positions is very similar to Bebes'? That is, seniority counts for a lot, and sometimes talent and ability is overridden by it.
That is not to say that either of them keep good players on the bench intentionally, but that intangibles such as experience and tenure are part of the overall equation that determines the starting role.
JPW was the QB on an Alabama team that won 12 games, but how quickly people forget that going into last fall he was seen as a LIABILITY. It was an oft repeated mantra that "Alabama can't win with Wison at Quarterback." Barners had convinced themselves of it to the point that they were still using Wilson as the reason that many of them were predicting an upset win over us the week of the Iron Bowl. Not to take anything away from Wilson, but JPW set the passing records he holds, in large part because the pathetic blocking of Bucket Step Bob's offensive line. In 2006 we flat out couldn't run the ball and because of that, we threw it 400 times. In 2007 we threw it even more - 472 times because we had no RB depth. S&C wasn't up to speed yet and we had no choice but to air it out. To put it in perspective, less than 1000 yards separate the difference in net rushing from 2008, compared to 2006 and 2007 COMBINED.
I don't mean to sound like a Wilson Basher because I am not, but people forget how badly Wilson peformed in 2007. Wilson's QB rating in 2007 was 114.6 (92nd nationally), ranking above only McKenzie Adams and Seth Adams (from Ole Miss and Vandy) in the SEC. For the sake of comparison, that is lower than the 2008 ratings of South Carolina's Chris Smelley and LSU's Jarrett Lee.
My point is, John Parker may not have been the most gifted or talented QB on the team last year, but he was the most experienced. Saban saw Wilson's leadership, experience, and maturity as giving us our best opportunity to win. His skill set meshed well with our need for a game manager. Greg McElroy has a live arm, good accuracy, the ability to read defenses extremely well, and he checks off better than any QB we have had in ages. He also happens to be brilliant - if you missed the fact that he graduated with a 4 year degree in 3 years, which is extremely difficulty to do if academics is ALL you do. The guy is a redshirt junior...he is 4 years removed from high school already and he lives in the film room.
What it ultimately means is, rivals who think we will be taking a step backward with a "new quarterback who couldn't even beat out JPW," are going to be in for a rude awakening. Our offense will be plug and play with GMac, and if I needed a long ball completed, I know which QB I would choose.
lace>Utah</st1
