Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Football and Sports Talk The black Quarterback debate

Should make for some interesting discussion.




I’m not posting this to call you out or anything Burbank, but I see this alot from Auburn fans, and it really makes me wonder where it comes from. Iknow it’s just another avenue for you guys to demean the University ofAlabama, but it’s a myth that is not based upon fact. Now admittedly there has been a dry spell of black QB’s over the last 10 - 12 years at Alabama and we will look at that in this post. However, I wanted to address the“more than Bama has had in 30 years” comment. The line to beat is 3, right?

In the past 30 years (1983 ? 2013)
Starters:
Freddie Milons 1999 (I realize he’s a WR, but if he lined up at QB he’s a QB)
David Palmer 1993 (Ditto)
Vince Sutton 1988
Danny Woodson 1991
Andrew Zow 1998 - 99

Non Starters who have took snaps at QB
Star Jackson
Blake Sims
Jimmy Johns
Phillip Sims

Falling just outside the 30 year window is the greatest African American QB to ever suit up at Alabama, Walter Lewis.

Now let’s look at that dry spell over the past 10 - 12 years that we talked about earlier. In that 10 - 12 year span (Zow graduated in 2002 so we will go with 2003 - 2013). Over that span here are the QB’s that Bama has put onthe field.

2003: Brodie Croyle (back ups) Spencer Pennington and Brandon Avalos.
2004: Same
2005: Brodie Croyle (back ups) Jimmy Barnes, Marc Guillon, Jimmy Johns
2006: John Parker Wilson (back ups) Jimmy Barnes, Marc Guillon, JimmyJohns
2007: John Parker Wilson (back ups) Greg McElroy Nick Fannuzi
2008: John Parker Wilson (back ups) Greg McElroy, Star Jackson
2009: Greg McElroy (back ups) Star Jackson, AJ McCarron
2010: Greg McElroy (back ups) AJ McCarron Star Jackson, PhillipSims, Blake Sims
2011: AJ McCarron (back ups) Phillip Sims, Phillip Ely, (Blake Simsmoved to RB at this point)
2012: AJ McCarron (back ups) Phillip Ely, Blake Sims, Alec Morris
2013: AJ McCarron (back ups) Alec Morris, Cooper Bateman, Luke Del Rio.

Now I pose a question to the Auburn fans….. I think it’s fair to say that Alabama can only put the kids they have on the roster on the field, right? I also think it’s fair to say that in the above list, there have been some pretty good starting QB’s come through UA over the past 10 years. All of them are at the top of the record books. Now let’s look at the African American QB’s that I listed on the above roster.

Star Jackson: Committed to Alabama in the 2009 recruiting class.Transferred to upstart program Georgia State. He played as a back up infour games for Georgia State and quit the program.
Phillip Sims: Committed to Alabama in the 2010 recruiting class. After A.J. McCarron beat him out for the starting spot in the “starting QB tryout game” against Kent State, he assumed the backup role for the rest of the season. He transferred to the University of Virginia due to “family reasons” during the off-season. At Virginia he was the starting QB for atime but was eventually beaten out for the job. He is currently transferring to Winston Salem State.

Blake Sims: Blake stuck it out and realized his goal of playing QB at Alabama and appeared in several games last season. He is currently battling redshirt freshman Alec Morris for the back up QB position behind two year starter and two time National Champion AJ McCarron.

Jimmy Johns: Took very few snaps at UA at QB and when he did it was designed runs up the middle to utilize his power. Was kicked out of school for selling drugs on campus.

So out of the four African American QB’s I just listed that have been on Alabama’s roster over the past 10 seasons, which one of you with a straight face can tell me that any of these guys possessed the ability to beat out A.J. McCarron, Greg McElroy, or John Parker Wilson? Help me out here guys….. can you name me one African American QB in that span that transferred out of Alabama because he was being oppressed on the bench and went on to super stardom at another school? Phillip Sims? Star Jackson? Anyone? Remember……………………. Alabama can only put the players they have on the roster on the field.

I think it’s a great thing that several African American QB’s have succeeded at Auburn. Guys like Reggie Slack, Dameyune Craig, Jason Campbell, Cam Newton, Keihl Frazier to a much lesser degree, and now likely Nick Marshall. That’s awesome. However, it doesn’t make Auburn some sort of high brow institution that champions race relations and equal rights while those mean ol Bammers just want to keep a brother down. Again, I pose the question to you…....out of all those great African American QB’s I just mentioned can you sit there with a straight face and tell me that there was a white guy on the roster that could have beaten out those guys, but Auburn was so virtuous that they gave the African American kid a chance to succeed? Do you think that just maybe both Alabama and Auburn put the best players available from the roster on the field, and it just so happens that Auburn has had some great African American talent at QB over the years and Alabama maybe not so much? Nah….. that’s silly. Alabama is a racist school that hates black QB’s, right?

Seriously…………………….. you just look silly when you make that argument.

Before anyone says that Alabama doesn’t recruit black QB’s like Auburn does, I will list out some QB’s that Alabama has aggressively recruited over the years and had a shot at. All of them chose to go elsewhere which is not UA’s fault. Tyrone Swoopes (Texas)
Jameis Winston (FSU) Reportedly due to negative recruiting by Demeyune Craig
Braxton Miller (Ohio State)
Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville)
Geno Smith (West Virginia)
EJ Manual (FSU)
Pat White (West Virginia)
Jemarcus Russell (LSU)

That’s just the big name 5 star guys or the ones that went on to stardom.There are countless other African American QB’s that Bama has recruited over the years, and I am just too lazy at this point to go pulling up allthose names. I think you get my point.

No offense BC....but....



It was said tounge/cheek. I really dont care who bama recruits/plays from a race standpoint.

No one care argue with the recent success. Just give me a kid that wins.

I think it often comes down to a coach's style and what he looks for in a QB more than anything. Some, like Saban, seem to look more at decision making skill while others look more for athleticism (not saying AJ isn't athletic). Preferably you would want one with both, but I would imagine, if it came down to it, they have certain things they look for.

I would bet (and hope), that race plays no part in the decision.

Dude, you take things to serious and evidently have way to much time on your hands. How much time did you just spend on your research for burbank to tell you he meant that tongue and cheek? (Which all the rest of us knew)

You can put Walter Lewis on your list too BC. I know he was on Perkin's first team which would have been 83 so there's another one.

I knew he was joking but believe it or not he's not the whole Auburn fanbase and I have heard hundreds of them echo that sentiment.

I didn't research anything. That post only took me the length of time to type it out. Three minutes I guess.

He's on there. His overall career started just outside that 30 year window so I gave him a shout out but didn't put him on the list.

What research? The man knows his football.

I knew you were playing but I've heard plenty of people say it other than you. I know when you said it you were chumming the waters a little lol.

Who's this hangwild dude? He new?

All this fancy speed typing you can do and you misspell my name. Come on now, your better than that.

If he knows all that off the top of his head without looking it up then there's no doubt he knows his football.

iPhones are hell to type on.

Brian, funny thing is I've never heard it mentioned except on here. I may be out of the loop?

Dang sure does.

It is said all the time. It was all the talk on radio when Tyler Watts and Andrew Zoe were going back and forth at QB.

Doekiller, I was talking about the UA/AU comparisons and banter over the color of the QB. Well, I guess you may be putting an Auburn factor into the Watts/Zoe competition. (That's what I haven't heard except on here.)

You do know that Watts/Zow were like 20 years ago right? It did get talked about then , Zow was a much better QB and never got a real chance to start without looking over his shoulder. I don't know that race was an issue but he did get hosed.

Zow/Watts was 10-11 years ago. Both graduated in 2002.

Well.... it's not like the conversation is prevalent all the time but it does come up quite a bit on every Auburn board. The conversation spikes when a. A black QB transfers from Alabama, or b. Alabama and Auburn are recruiting the same African American QB. There was some pretty serious talk in that regard about this time last year when Alabama was pushing strong for Jameis Winston and Auburn was recruiting him as well.

I just thought this would be interesting conversation and wondered what everyone thought about it. Do people really think Alabama discriminates against black QB's?