Profilin' the Tide: Quarterbacks

Previously: General Offensive Preview, Offensive Line, Tailbacks, Wide receivers, Tight Ends, and H-backs

Alabama quarterbacks through the [recent] ages; if you're reading this caption without the theme music from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" playing in your head, you're doing it wrong 

As you can probably imagine, this preview will prove to be about as spicy as a Vanilla Wafer. That's not to say that they aren't good, but if you're looking for a more exciting snack item, you're better off looking to the Oreo or the Keebler striped cookie or perhaps a nice zesty piece of cardboard. I think we're still talking about football here but I'm not really sure. FOOTBAW. Okay, back on track.

Since time immemorial, the prototype for the Alabama signal caller has been fairly consistent. Somewhat surprisingly, Alabama has had one more All-American quarterback than Michigan since 1950 (Joe Namath-1964, Steve Sloan-1965, Kenny Stabler-1967, and Jay Barker-1994), but by and large the average Alabama quarterback has carried the cliched "game manager" label. While this is a label that I find to be somewhat useless--as if "managing a game" is as simple as making a sandwich or expressing outrage at any of Dave Brandon's doings via social media and/or the Internets, generally--it does carry some weight.

For an outsider, guys like Brodie Croyle, John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy, and AJ McCarron can seem somewhat indistinguishable. IME, Croyle was arguably the most talented of this group, and his career, as far as wins and losses go, was fairly nondescript. The obvious answer to this point is that, well, the teams that McElroy and McCarron have had the chance to lead were worlds better than those of the first two names on that list (minus the 2008 team that Wilson quarterbacked), not to mention the fact that Saban is just a tad better than Mike Shula at that whole coaching thing.

The Starter
Last season, the Tide looked to replace Greg McElroy, who after leading Alabama to a relatively disappointing 3-loss season in 2010, won the MNC in 2011. Leading up to the 2011 season, a mini-controversy existed at the position between Phillip Sims and AJ McCarron. Sims saw time in the opening game blowout against Kent State before not taking a snap the next week against Penn State, and so it was McCarron's job the rest of the way.

Just managing this game , you guys. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

There is no such controversy this time around, as the redshirt junior 6'4'' 210 AJ McCarron is firmly entrenched as the starter. McCarron, the leading hipster quarterback of our time, had an impressively efficient 2011 campaign. He went 219 for 328 (66.8%), passing for 2,634 yards and 16 touchdowns to only 5 picks. For a point of reference, that completion percentage is appoximately 6% better than Chad Henne's best season, completion percentage-wise (2006), and the yardage total is about halfway between Henne's two best seasons (2004 and 2005). McCarron's 328 attempt's equals Henne's 328 in Michigan's successful 2006 campaign, and so completing a shade under 67% compared to Henne's 62% is fairly impressive, no matter how inflated by "safe" passes and having Trent Richardson might make you believe it to be.

Outside of the first LSU game, McCarron brought at minimum serviceable efforts against the best teams on the schedule. Against Penn State in Happy Valley, he went 19/31 with 1 TD and no picks. Against Arkansas, 15/20 with a pair of TDs and no picks. Against Auburn (not of course a "good team" but still, a rivalry game), he went 18/23 with 3 TDs (a long of 41 on a flea flicker to Kenny Bell) and no picks. In perhaps the most important performance of his career, he went 23/34 against LSU in The One That Counted, and although he didn't convert in the red zone he also did not make any mistakes.

He took 13 sacks in 2011, the same number as Denard, which speaks to the function of the offense and the strength of the offensive line. Beyer, Clark, Roh, et al have their work cut out for them when it comes to rushing the passer. As far as mobility goes, he is obviously not Denard but definitely not Navarre:

Even AJ McCarron looks like Denard against UT

Other stats of note:

• On 3rd & 3-7, McCarron was 34/49 for 377 yards and a whopping 7 TDs. 
• 151 of his 328 attempts (46%) came on first down. He completed 70% of these passes. 

In short, while it might be convenient to slap the "game manager" label on McCarron, he is a more than capable college quarterback. He has good size and serviceable mobility, and although he's not asked to make too many plays downfield, he has the accuracy and arm to do so when called upon. The primary concern for Alabama and McCarron going forward is whether or not the tailbacks can combine to replace Richardson and whether or not the relatively green receivers can produce against single coverage. Brad Smelley, who may have been his favorite target in 2011, is gone, and Bama will need to find a quality H-back to replace him as the checkdown option that McCarron looks to in the red zone and 3rd and medium situations.

We can only hope the passing game, what with all the new receivers, looks sort of like this

The Replacements

Barring injury, I wouldn't imagine that any of the backups here will see serious game reps. However, there are talented options behind McCarron. Phillip Sims will be a redshirt sophomore, and despite being a couple inches shorter than AJ, is also a pocket passer sort. He was a 4.5 star out of high school (5 on Scout, 4 on Rivals), as you would expect. As mentioned, he did see some time in the opener last season before ceding the position to McCarron, only seeing garbage time snaps thereafter against Ole Miss, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Texas, and Vanderbilt. He has a bigger arm than McCarron, but obviously the offensive staff felt more comfortable rolling with McCarron in 2011, and that seems to have worked out nicely for Alabama. 

After Sims, there is 3rd-stringer Phillip Ely, who redshirted in 2011. There's not much use in going too in depth here, but, FWIW, he's 6'1'' 198 and also of the pro-style mold, choosing Alabama over LSU and Clemson, among other suitors. 

General Spring Minutiae/Encomium That Results In a Bristling Saban 

You would think that a program like Alabama would strive to have a close to the vest and completely uninteresting spring game, but, surprisingly, Alabama aired it out quite a bit during the A-Day game. 

McCarron went 29/42, good for 304 yards and two TDs and three picks. 

Sims has been dealing with shoulder issues all spring, missing out on some valuable spring reps in regular practices and previous scrimmages. However, he did participate during A-Day, going 9/12 for 135 yards and two scores (although both touchdowns were short passes that TJ Yeldon and Chris Black converted into long touchdowns plays). Quoth Saban: 

"I thought he looked a little rusty in the beginning, but definitely played better in the third quarter," said Alabama coach Nick Saban, who stressed that Sims still wasn't 100 percent. "He made some big plays, and that's good." 

Ah, spring ball. It's all about as stimulating as your average episode of Entourage (which, if you're confused, means "not at all stimulating").

Things Think About/Watch Out For/ARE WE GONNA DIE? 

• As usual, the ARE WE GONNA DIE answer comes first: maybe. That is, if the ground game is churning along like it did in 2011--despite having replaced a Rimington finalist at center and a Heisman finalist at tailback--then McCarron will likely have a McCarronian game, meaning something like a completion percentage of 65-70%, between 200 and 250 yards, and 2+ TD passes with no picks. Additionally, the receiving corps, as already described, is potentially the biggest question mark on this team other than maybe the linebackers. Of course, by "question mark" I mean they might not be MNC caliber but still very, very good. So, most of what goes into the consideration of McCarron's 2012 prospects don't actually revolve around McCarron himself. 

• I have no doubt that Barrett Jones could be an All-American at his new position by the end of the year, but you'd have to imagine that there might be some center exchange issues early on in the season. It's pretty unfortunate that this is one of the few things we can reasonably entertain with respect to things we can feel positive about vis-a-vis the Alabama offense. The center position is obviously very different from either the guard or tackle positions, so Michigan's issues up the middle might be slightly mitigated if Jones makes a few mistakes with his calls and on snaps come September 1st. 

• What kind of new wrinkles will new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier bust out that we may not have seen under former OC--and new CSU head coach--Jim McElwain? The word around spring ball from AJ has basically been NOPE NOTHING'S CHANGED THE PROCESS CONTINUES ON UNCEASING AND UNBROKEN. Okay, not exactly like that, but basically like that. I would think that Alabama would like to save its sneakier wrinkles for SEC play, but if Mattison figures out a way to slow down the run then we might see some things from Washington's playbook the last few years come to Tuscaloosa (uh, Arlington, I guess). 

Meaningless Grade That I Will Give Out Anyway
There's no quarterback controversy, and the starter is coming off a season in which he caretakered/game managed Alabama to a MNC season. Phillip Sims (not that Sims) is a solid if inexperienced backup. I'll go with a solid B+ here; McCarron is much better than Michigan fans will probably give him credit for throughout this summer, but he is also not a star and probably isn't a guy that can win the game by himself, but, then again, Alabama doesn't ask him to do that and the only game that sort of forced him to try to get outside of himself was the first LSU game. But, given the structure of the offense and Alabama football as a whole--play defense, run the ball, don't make mistakes--handing out any sort of grade is more meaningless for this position than for perhaps any other. McCarron has seen it all at this point; it will take a good helping of coordinatin' sorcery on Mattison's part to hold this offense in check in order to give Denard et al a chance at notching the upset.

And with that, that's it for the offense. Due to being in Ann Arbor for graduation festivities this coming week, you'll have to wait till next week for the thrilling conclusion to these previews*, in which I'll take at a look at which future NFL first-rounders will replace the guys that are about to be first round draft picks on the defensive side of the ball for the Tide.

*That is, if this Blackhawks-Coyotes series doesn't knock me dead first...HHNNNGGGGGGiest series ever.

The Replacements: Taylor Graham

Our third installment in the offseason fact-finding mission that is "learn about OSU quarterbacks not named Terrelle Pryor" is Taylor Graham. Like the recently previewed Kenny Guiton, Graham is a little bit of an unknown outside of OSU circles. A comprehensive recruiting profile from a Buckeye perspective can be found here.

The Basics

Graham is an imposing 6'4'' 230 Redshirt Freshman from Wheaton, IL. Some relevant information re: his high school career and injuries: his junior and senior seasons were cut short by injuries. To even get an OSU after all that seems a little...odd. But, as mentioned he does have the measurables, and could've just been a project and/or legacy recruit (his father, Kent Graham, was also an OSU signal caller, leading the Buckeyes to an 8-4 season and a 28-point loss in Ann Arbor). Our Honor Defend explains:

Graham, from Wheaton, Illinois and son of former Buckeye quarterback and NFL mainstay Kent Graham, is the lone quarterback of the 2010 class and, worth noting, not the first option on Ohio State’s big board of quarterback recruits.

So, basically the Guiton-Boyd situation. A "stellar" camp performance netted Graham a seemingly desperate offer, not unlike Rich Rodriguez's mad dash at the the beginning of 2008 that ultimately netted a commitment from Justin Feagin (who was only debatably a quarterback, quite honestly). We swung and missed on Pryor* et al and OSU missed on Nick Montana and Andrew Hendrix. You'd expect Graham to be a middling three-star given this brief explanation of his recruitment, yet Rivals had him in his top 250 (at #236, a four-star prospect). Graham's size and pedigree alone seem to have been enough to merit an offer and an above average ranking from the scouts. The Rivals 250 list's blurb for him reads: "Son of former Ohio State quarterback Kent Graham." Graham also acquired offers from Wisconsin, Michigan State, and UCLA, among others.

Comes with standard annoying recruiting video music

The Numbers


The downward trend in sample size continues; Graham literally has none. In fact, due to the aforementioned injuries, he doesn't even have impressive high school stats. Having been redshirted in 2010, he has no OSU game reps to speak of.

Spring Game Hype/Notes


Graham finished the 2011 Spring Game with a ho-hum stat line: 4/9 for 91 yards, with 68 of those coming on a single touchdown pass to the 6'5'' T.Y. Williams. Naturally, the first thing the announcers mention when he takes his first snap is that his dad is Kent Graham. Taylor Graham has got to be thinking "Guys, I'm perfectly capable of running the company playing quarterback at OSU. Stop talking about my 8th-round draft pick father, please."



Spring scrimmage footage:

Graham takes the field at 1:30, 5:00, and 10:40. Touchdown pass comes at 11:35; pretty nice pass that beats the corner and safety. Great touch, a good sign for a guy with a strong arm. Otherwise, Graham completed a few safe out routes, missed a back in the flats, had a pass deflected that should've been picked, and took several sacks in a display of immobility hearkens back to John Navarre. The sack at 2:08 is especially 2004 USC Rose Bowl-esque. The blitzer comes right up the middle unblocked, and you'd think Graham would see him but I guess not. Mobility is an issue to say the least, as he took a whopping five sacks in the scrimmage. On the plus side, he didn't turn the ball over.

Pointless Prognostication


Graham is basically Bauserman with an actual chance at being good. However, that doesn't mean he will actually ever play, and there's little to no chance he plays in any significant capacity in 2011 unless disaster strikes. Graham is a nice player to have waiting in the wings to serve as that 1-year transitional quarterback type a few years down the road. A strong arm and good size paired with little to no aggregate experience at the college and high school levels equals ain't going to play any time soon. If he does, look for relentless blitzing from opposing defensive coordinators that would make Manny Diaz blush. Graham strikes me as a very Todd Boeckman-esque type, if we're playing the YMRMFSPA game. Given Graham's family ties to Ohio State and his apparent love for the university, a transfer is ostensibly unlikely. Sticking around and hoping for a Braxton Miller early entry to the NFL and starting for a year is probably his best case scenario.

I'd look for Graham to get some garbage time snaps against Akron, Toledo, and IU**, racking up some relatively negligible numbers but giving him more college snaps than me, which is good.


*[insert "man we were lucky" talk here]
**IU football...still bad.

The Replacements: Kenny Guiton

Our next stop in this exercise of offseason boredom  completely necessary preview of the lucky candidates to replace Terrelle Pryor is Kenny Guiton. You may be asking: Who? Well, right.

The Basics



Here's a pretty solid preview from over at 11 Warriors (of course, this was written when Pryor was still a Buckeye and OSU was looking for a 5-game "just hand the ball off and don't screw up" guy). I'm not going to lie, I didn't know too much about this guy before this spring but he seems like an intriguing player. As a recruit coming out of Texas, the offer sheet tells the story: no offers from any of the big fish in-state. Other than the OSU offer, he boasted offers from Iowa State, Houston, Kansas State, Rice, and Prairie View A&M (yes, Prairie View A&M). I can't claim to have an extensive knowledge of Buckeye recruiting, but either: a) the OSU coaching staff saw something in Guiton that other Big 12 powers didn't or b) they just wanted to take a quarterback--any quarterback--for depth purposes. It's always wise to get a quarterback per class, and this may be what brought Guiton to Columbus. According to Jason at 11 Warriors, missing out on Tajh Boyd and a few others led to this; Guiton's commitment seems to have been an 11th hour situation.

Despite being a relatively under-the-radar, non-descript 3* prospect, Guiton might have a leg up on a guy like Joe Bauserman simply for the fact that, despite being in his 3rd year on campus, he's somewhat of an unknown entity. Unfortunately for Guiton, an above average spring game performance (11/21 for 167 yards and two touchdowns) in 2010 led to nothing more than sitting behind Bauserman on the depth chart for the year. Jason's take on Guiton's game seems to be on the extremely positive side:

With Pryor out for the first five games of 2011, Guiton has a real chance to grab the starting job in his absence. His throwing motion is smooth and he keeps the ball near his chest on the drop while using a pretty standard two-finger, across the laces grip. Perhaps what is most interesting about Guiton is he has above average athleticism but he rarely looks to run first. 

Sounds like some pretty generic praise, but he does seem to have some pretty decent athleticism to make up for his slight frame (6'2'' 190). For what it's worth, Guiton makes a pretty nice throw at 6:30 of this spring scrimmage video:

The Numbers


There's even less statistical substance on Guiton than there is on Bauserman. He played in 5 games in 2010, going 1 for 2, adding 5 rushes and a touchdown against EMU (poor Ron English). So, yeah, you could say he's a bit unproven despite having been in the program for two full seasons and a spring by now.

Spring Game Hype/Notes


As noted above, Jason thinks that Guiton has a "real chance to grab the starting job." He follows that up with:

Then, when Pryor returns, Ohio State will be in the enviable position of having a star as the starter, an experienced backup with skills in Guiton and the youth movement in the form of either Miller or Graham waiting to take over in a few years, if not sooner.

Ignoring the Pryor part, this just seems like the ideal but unrealistic scenario that we as fans all imagine will come to pass in any potentially troubling situation for our team. Guiton has some skill, but his performance in this year's spring scrimmage didn't separate him from the rest of the field, as he went only 5 for 11 with 67 yards (plus the aforementioned 17-yard TD pass to Verlon Reed). At this point, it's anybody's game, and Guiton hasn't done anything to make anybody think he will be the guy. After basically stealing the show in the 2010 spring game, he is just a guy as of right now. But, there seems to be pockets of excitement surrounding the guy which don't exactly exist for Bauserman and, to a lesser extent, Graham. If I'm getting a correct read on the situation, Guiton is the ultimate wild-card.

Pointless Prognostication


No, guy, he's not Robert Griffin. He's not Troy Smith either. I mean, he could be, but he's probably not. Despite the always reliable and/or relevant "Buckeye Bits" section in his bio, which states that he "has gained noticeable benefits from the off-season workout program," he's still looking pretty Eddie McGee wiry. The 11 Warriors preview notes a tendency to hold onto the ball too long (take that with a grain of salt...small sample size and whatnot), which could get him killed in Big Ten play. He weighs about as much as Denard and is at least two inches taller...he's not big. 


On the other hand, he has shown some flashes in the last two spring games (particularly in 2010). Although Tresel did not deign to promote him to be Pryor's understudy in 2010, a new coach means a clean slate and a new chance to snag the starting job. 


Unfortunately for Guiton, being seen at the now infamous Fine Line Ink in December is not a positive at all. While he hasn't been implicated in anything as of yet, we've slowly learned of the vast gravitational pull of the corruption at the heart of the Ohio State program, and it wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that Guiton is another participant in the parade of malfeasance. It certainly wouldn't surprise me. In any case, it's a situation to monitor going forward. 


It's hard to get a read on Guiton's place in the program going forward. He's a guy with some skill, and by many accounts a bright guy (1340 SAT, for what it's worth). Still, he has even less game experience than Bauserman, and does not seem like a guy who is built to withstand the pounding of a Big Ten slate. To make a long story short, I see Guiton being a guy who will get meaningful snaps only if these two things happen: 1) Bauserman proves himself to be completely, mind-numbingly incompetent at the beginning of the season and 2) Miller struggles at any point after #1 inevitably occurs. Getting playing time will be an uphill battle that will get even tougher if he fails to pass Bauserman on the depth chart by September 3rd.