Link: All-Time Top 5 Bama QB's

B1GTide

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I agree that McCarron deserves to be #1. If not for the kick-6, he probably wins 3 national championships as the starting QB in consecutive seasons.
 

Alasippi

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I agree with the cast just not their order of appearance.
To me Kenny Stabler was far and away the best we ever had.
At UA he could throw bullets and he could run like a deer.

I'd rate them
1. Stabler
2. Gilmer
3. Namath
4. McCarron
5. Trammel
 

MikeD

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Feb 24, 2007
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  • I agree that McCarron deserves to be #1. If not for the kick-6, he probably wins 3 national championships as the starting QB in consecutive seasons.

Agree. If they beat auburn, they play for three straight plus I believe he would have won the Heisman. Voters were desperately looking to vote for someone other than Winston. That TD pass to cooper in that game was as good of a Heisman moment as any.
 

Sabanizer

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Unless you lived through the Namath, Stabler era, I think is hard to judge. I want to hear from those that have.
 

Alasippi

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Unless you lived through the Namath, Stabler era, I think is hard to judge. I want to hear from those that have.
Stabler and Namath were NFL Hall of Fame Quarterbacks. That's now a fact.
A.J. was a sixth round draft choice. With all due respect to A.J., he fit the Coach Saban game manager system and he did so in an incredible fashion. He was an outstanding quarterback who led Bama to two national titles.
That being said, as a quarterback, he's not in the same category as Snake and Namath. There's no comparison.
I've had the privilige to watch them all. A.J. is in no way the best QB to ever play at Bama.
 

AlexanderFan

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Jul 23, 2004
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30 passing touchdowns is not a game manager. 3,000 yards in a 50/50 offense isn't a game manager. Give the guy some respect. He obliterated the record books. He has a strong arm and leadership skills.


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TideMan09

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Jan 17, 2009
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30 passing touchdowns is not a game manager. 3,000 yards in a 50/50 offense isn't a game manager. Give the guy some respect. He obliterated the record books. He has a strong arm and leadership skills.


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Yup..I agree 100% with ya..He carried the team as well a few games when need be when D's would shut down our running game..AJ was a lotttt more than just a "Game Manager"..I hate that term cause it's stayed with AJ throughout his career unjustly..
 

GrayTide

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If this system is based on statistics and wins then probably the ratings are right, although I never saw Gilmer play. If you want to rate the QBs on their athletic ability, college and NFL careers then MCarron is not in the same league with Namath and Stabler and I saw all 3 live and in person. My personal favorite however will always be Pat Trammell.
 

CajunCrimson

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If this system is based on statistics and wins then probably the ratings are right, although I never saw Gilmer play. If you want to rate the QBs on their athletic ability, college and NFL careers then MCarron is not in the same league with Namath and Stabler and I saw all 3 live and in person. My personal favorite however will always be Pat Trammell.
Stabler and Namath were freak athletes for their era.

In today's game they would have struggled with the power and speed of defensive players.

Back then they were men amongst boys. Now they would be skinny men amongst monsters.

Great QBs of their era. It's a different world now.
 

KrAzY3

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That being said, as a quarterback, he's not in the same category as Snake and Namath. There's no comparison.
If we are going down that road, how is Bart Starr left out? It seems to me that the list is built around their career at Alabama.

Though, even then I think Joe Namath gets bonus points because well, he's Joe Namath. I mean he had 5 TDs and 4 INTs his senior season. As far as I know he didn't win any major awards while at Alabama. On the other hand, Jay Barker is off of the list despite having a very good career at Alabama. He won a title, he won the Johnny Unitas award, he was a Heisman candidate. He had a stellar starting record as well (35-2-1). If you want an idea of how subjective this list can be, here's another one which has a rather different order:
http://isportsweb.com/2011/07/01/alabama-football-all-time-10-best-qbs/

If we are going by single seasons, I think Blake Sims has to be part of the discussion. It's just very hard to compile the list without any objective criteria. If we are talking about proven NFL talent then it has to be Starr, Stabler, Namath and Gilmer, with anyone else a distant fifth. However, if we're talking about college career and by that I mean what they did on the field I think you have to include Barker and AJ. Gilmer (the only one who is in the College Football Hall of Fame) also was a two time Heisman candidate, but like Bart Starr and Don Hutson he's such a distant memory that some people fail to give him due credit, but I think he's the one that most clearly would fit either criteria.

I hate to say this because he's taken on mythic proportions, but Pat Trammel is hard to put into either category. He had one amazing season and a fantastic record as a starter, but outside of that one season he threw for a single touchdown. A lot of people believe he was an NFL talent, and he did set records at Alabama, but so did Blake Sims. This goes back to comparing across eras. We know who the top talent of the bunch is, the NFL Pro Bowlers of the list (does anyone realize Gilmer made more Pro Bowls than Namath?). We know who put up the best numbers, and we know who won championships. But, beyond that we are comparing people who played in different eras under different style offenses and different defenses. I'd just like to see more objective criteria that's a little more clearly laid out.
 
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capnfrog

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Stabler and Namath were NFL Hall of Fame Quarterbacks. That's now a fact.
A.J. was a sixth round draft choice. With all due respect to A.J., he fit the Coach Saban game manager system and he did so in an incredible fashion. He was an outstanding quarterback who led Bama to two national titles.
That being said, as a quarterback, he's not in the same category as Snake and Namath. There's no comparison.
I've had the privilige to watch them all. A.J. is in no way the best QB to ever play at Bama.
I remember Pat Trammel, Namath and Snake and it's hard to compare them to each other because they were all great for different reasons, in a time when Coach Bryant had us on top of the college football world. Willie Joe was the best passer, I remember talk that he could knock the receivers down, that's how hard he could throw accurately and Coach Bryant asked him to take a little off his passes for that reason. Snake could throw a good pass but also could pull it down and run as good as any RB I've seen back then. Jay Barker, and Bart Starr deserve to be included in this list also. We have been blessed with some very good QB's since CNS took control of our program and mostly each one was different. I like Blake Sims and Jake Coker for their passing and scrambling abilities and A. J. McCarron could get you out of a messy situation when you really needed to put the game on his shoulders. Greg McElroy was without a doubt the smartest QB to ever play for Alabama and Brodie Croyle if he could have stayed healthy would have been one of the best passers, up there with the likes of Joe Namath. Now we are about to embark on the 2016 season and if Blake Barnett gets the starting nod this fall he could very likely make us mention his name in the same breath as Jake Coker and Blake Sims and all the great ones before them. JMHO
 
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TUSKtimes

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I've seen some great players at the position. Can't overlook the 70's era of championship Bama football. Wishbone and all, Richard Todd was a force. Everyone in the know knew he was a talent in spite of the limitations of the formation. He was such a great athlete, he truly scared people with his running ability as well as his arm. The NFL saw his potential and the Jets picked him with the 6th overall pick in the 1976 draft.

Richard Todd: Never lost an SEC game he started in his entire Alabama career.
 
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81usaf92

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Yup..I agree 100% with ya..He carried the team as well a few games when need be when D's would shut down our running game..AJ was a lotttt more than just a "Game Manager"..I hate that term cause it's stayed with AJ throughout his career unjustly..
Why are so many people mad about the game manager tag? Aj was more of a game manager than a one man army qb that many compare him to. People feared Alabama with AJ more than AJ with Alabama if that makes sense. The amount of talent around him and the system he was in gave him that tag.
 

TommyMac

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Stabler and Namath were freak athletes for their era.

In today's game they would have struggled with the power and speed of defensive players.

Back then they were men amongst boys. Now they would be skinny men amongst monsters.

Great QBs of their era. It's a different world now.

Ridiculous post.

Both are Hall of Famers in any era. Athleticism is not a quality or trait that has only recently been developed. NFL scouts today would drool over Namath's arm or Snake's unmatched coolness under fire.

Greatness transcends time.
 

Sabanizer

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Ridiculous post.

Both are Hall of Famers in any era. Athleticism is not a quality or trait that has only recently been developed. NFL scouts today would drool over Namath's arm or Snake's unmatched coolness under fire.

Greatness transcends time.
Prince is a great example. I had to throw that in. I agree, I think Namath and Stabler would have been just fine if they were born later in life.
 

TideEngineer08

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Of course they would. They would have gotten the same kinds of training that today's athletes received and they would still have had the brains and arm that made them great.

The real question would be could Namath have avoided the knee injuries. And even if not, modern day knee surgeries are light years beyond what they were in the 60s. Before the injuries, Namath was as mobile and athletic as Kenny Stabler was.
 

81usaf92

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Honestly this is a harder debate than the bear vs Saban one. There are too many different styles, systems, and levels of competition to sift through to decide on the best. Then you have to take into account situations like Blake sims and Jake Coker in which their one year as a starter makes you wonder what they could've done with two more years.
 

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