The Alabam Crimson Tide’s ability to attract so many fans to A-Day continues to generate chatter around the country. The LA Times college football blog called it admirable. “USC might have lots of diehard fans, but the Trojans would never draw 90,000 to the Coliseum for a spring football scrimmage. Now, I know some people might say, what is there to do in Tuscaloosa, Ala.? But you have to admire the fan dedication.” The Pensacola News Journal called Alabama’s A-Day a “must-see event.”

The Rap Sheet provides a look inside the Crimson Tide with several interesting photographs from A-Day.

The consensus is that Greg McElroy impressed coaches and fans with his performance Saturday. The Dallas Morning News blog proclimated that McElroy had claimed the Alabama Crimson Tide starting quarterback job. The AP said McElroy stars in Bama spring game.

The Tuscaloosa News declared Julio Jones stole the show.

The commercials run on ESPN promoting Alabama received good reviews from fans and media types. Roll Bama Roll has a good rundown on the commercials. The Rap Sheet has video of all three promotions.

26 thoughts on “Monday after A-Day stuff”

  1. It has nothing to do with Tuscaloosa. There were fans there from all over Alabama, the southeast and the nation. I myself drove down from Erie, Pa. and there was a steady stream of red and white decorated cars coming down I-65 from Tennessee and Huntsville. Julio was amazing, and could have been more so. He broke two returns for what would have been td’s if they would have let him finish. He broke a short pass over the middle for a sure 70yd td that they stopped because they said McElroy was down. And he could have had a lot more catches if he hadn’t been McElroy’s third read on nearly every play. Mac’s gonna have to get over favoring Peek and McCoy when he has the best reciever in the nation on the other end of line!
    As for McElroy. Anyone who thinks he didn’t look spectacular for a spring game, needs to go to the websites of our rivals and read their spring game stats. For instance Heisman winner Tebow had less than 100 yd’s passing and his team lost. Heisman winner Bradford at Oklahoma had less than 200 yds, and Heisman runnerup Colt McCoy at Texas didn’t do much better than Tebow. In fact McElroys stats were as good as any in the country who played against their 1st team defense. And he played against the best defense in the nation. We have ourselves a gem in Greg McElroy. BCS here we come! RTR!

  2. I cant wait until this fall. .
    this isnt Mike shula’s Bama team anymore.
    What i really enjoy is all the Barners who are wishfully thinking it still is.

  3. I have to admit it though. I for on was entirely underwhelmed with the Auburn version of a-day.
    Jesus, the defense looked like some homeless guys they paid as a last ditch effort to make Malzahn’s defense look halfway good. But to anyone who knows anything about Football it was obvious that the auburn offense was playing against the scout team.

  4. Let me revise the stats of McCoy and Bradford. Want to be fair and accurate. Colt McCoy played the whole game and completed less than 50% of his passes for only 95 yards. Bradford only played one quarter and had 97 yards, but all of Oklahoma’s qb’s combined only passed for 263 yards out of the spread offense. (By the way OU only had 28000 fans and considered it a great turnout!) Bama’s qb’s combined for nearly 350 yards passing. RTR.

  5. EG, let me put this frankly…you’re a freakin’ nut. You’re sitting here bragging about A-Day stats?? You’re trying to somehow compare McElroy to 2 Heisman winners and a sure fire top 10 NFL pick in McCoy based on stats from a freakin’ scrimmage?????????? BTW, are you really that impressed with his stats? He had a 53% completion rate, less than 200 yds total, and he threw an equal number of picks as he did td’s. Yeah, move over Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy, McElroy will single handedly win the NC and Heisman next year.

    BTW, spare me the predictable response about Auburn’s qb’s. You’re the one who drew comparisons to Heismaan caliber qb’s to McElroy based on an average freakin’ scrimmage performance, not AU fans.

  6. I don’t think Colt McCoy is a sure fire top 10 NFL pick–he SHOULD be one, but I don’t think the scouts are as impressed with him as they should be. If I had a Heisman vote, I would’ve voted for McCoy last season with Tebow second. A close second.

  7. I want to Second that Julio Jones did look AMAZING!! If this guy gets a GOOD QB back there .Hes gonna SHOW OFF!!!

  8. Hey bush, how much money did you toothless inbreds contribute to the tornado victims at the A-day game 2 years ago when 92K people attended and there wasn’t even a charge for admission?

  9. Julio, you are hung up on us only collecting thirty thousand for the tornado victims aren’t you? How much did yall collect? You act like it was our fault the tornado went through Aub and destroyed every trailer and left the entire population of Aub homeless. Now pipe down dipshit.

  10. Bushsux,

    Congrats on the scrimmage attendance national championship! Really, get a freakin’ life man. LOL!!! BTW – You guys continue to make yourselves look ridiculous when you compare McElf to established, heisman winning quarterbacks.

  11. YOu bammers sohould be proud of your attendance. Its good that a program has that much support. (though a little spooky)…….Anyhow. E.G. is claiming an 09 title. How many bammers agree ? It is a REMOTE possibilty. I believe next year a fair possibilty if MCelroy works out.

  12. Look julio you toothless inbred, I wasn’t making a direct comparison of Mac to the othes qb’s. It was strictly relative to A-Day performance. Many will say that Mac’s performance was mediocre based on his stats. And they will say this in spite of the fact that he went against the full strength #1 defense in the nation! I simply pointed out that the 3 best qb’s in the nation performed worse than Mac, AND none of them even played against their own first string – much less the best in the country. Dipshit! Mac performed outstandingly against our defense, and even though Hightowers interception was an ill timed throw, the second int. was a big fluke that had nothing to do with Mac’s throw. However, since you brought it up I’ll say this: Mac was better in HS than McCoy, Bradford and Tebow and he has the potential to be as good in college now that he has his chance. I for one am excited for him to be leading our team and wouldn’t trade him for any first year starter in the country. You f___ers hate him because he bombed your asses off in the 36-0 beatdown! Well dude get ready for more of the same. He’s gonna getcha twice more! Ha, ha, ha! RTR!

  13. EG, a couple of things:

    1. You really do reveal the idiot that you truly are when you steal my insults and try to pass them off as your own, all the while forgetting that I’m the one you stole them from. Newsflash…that was me that used the term “toothless inbred” a mere 4 posts above your own.

    2. I don’t know if you got the memo, but McElroy has actually been at Bama for a couple of years now. See, if there was even a remote chance that he was as good as Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy, he would have started a long time ago rather than backing up a qb that 85% of all Bama fans say sucked. (If JPW did suck, what does that say about the guy couldn’t even beat him out for the starting spot?) All 3 of those qb’s either started or at least played an integral part in the offense as freshmen. They didn’t ride the pine backing up an average qb until they were jr.’s.

  14. You can suppose all you want dude. That and a dollar’ll get you a cup of coffee most places! If I’m not mistaken toothless idiot was used long before you coined it. Besides, if the shoe fits —-! Look, JPW qb’ed Hoover to 2 or 3 state championships, a mythical national championship and a permanent showcase on M-TV, and his brother Ross continued the tradition until he ran into Prattville. Today Ross is an All American on the Tide Baseball team. The Wilsons’ are great talents who excelled at the most talent rich HS in Alabama. JPW came to Bama as ‘Mr. Alabama’ and Shula’s pet recruit. Do not think there aren’t politics involved in big time football. The qb job was JPW’s from the moment he signed his letter of intent and he’d have to break a leg to lose it. I’m not going into the year by year details of the problems at Bama that affected his performance. But in the end he almost carried us to a national championship, and neither of the losses were his fault. In fact he out performed Tebow for 3 quarters until a tired offensive line let Florida chase him all over the field in the 4th quarter. It’s amazing to me how people can think a qb who broke every passing record in Bama’s history, while working out of a run oriented offense, could have been bad! It’s bullshit! Matthew Stafford never got Georgia near as close to a MNC as Bama was Last year. I guess he sucked too? Same thing for Sou Cal’s last 2 great qb’s – they sucked too? And Pat White at W. Virginia, he sucked too? Com’on dude get over it. Mac simply waited his turn like everyone else has to do. And really we don’t give a shit what you Barners think anyway. Mac’s gonna do great and there’s gonna be a lot more long td strikes than in the past. Just like the one to Marquise Maze in the beatdown last year. You know – the 36 yard one that made it 36-0! RTR!

  15. EG, there is one point we actually agree on. Unlike the overwhelming majority of bammers on this site, I actually thought JPW was a solid qb last year. He wasn’t a world beater, but he did what was asked of him and he didn’t get Bama beat. It certainly wasn’t his fault that Utah was up 21-0 before most bammers finished their first beer. What you’re completely wrong about is this BS that Saban started JPW over McElory for “political reasons”. If Saban thought for 1 second that McElroy would perform better than JPW he’d have benched JPW in a heartbeat. That little dictator wouldn’t give a flying rip about “politics”, or about somebody “waiting their turn”. For all you who are convinced that McElroy is the 2nd coming of Namath, you might want to remember that.

  16. julio just kicked you in the nuts…….

    Anyone that thinks McElroy was benched for political reasons and was better than JPW is huffing starter fluid.

    You lost all respect with that one egghead…

    Oh yeah……….You never had any.

  17. JPW was a SENIOR and McElroy was a SOPHOMORE. Surely it couldn’t be that simple to you guys. No way McElroy would beat out JPW and his experience. But McElroy is the best Bama has right now. He has been there and he has worked hard to separate himself in the QB competition. What more can the guy do? Just because he didn’t move ahead of Wilson as a sophomore isn’t a valid reason to say that he can’t be better than Wilson. Maybe sitting on the sidelines he could learn from JPWs mistakes. And JPW wasn’t exactly a terrible QB or anything (see Kodi Burns). Wait until the guy plays a few games, then you can make a better judgement. I think the guy will have his mistakes, no doubt, but he isn’t exactly a freshman starting QB or anything. He will get better as he goes, and he will be the man to beat next year too.

  18. Nor did I say anything otherwise, brandii. I only said that Saban obviously thought that JPW would perform better last year, and experience was no doubt a large factor in that decision. I also agree that McElroy could turn out to be a solid qb with experience. However, have no illusions: If McElroy was a Tebow-Bradford-McCoy type talent, JPW would have picking splinters out his a$$ last year from riding the pine. I’m sure there were upper classmen at Texas and Okla with more experience too, but that didn’t stop those guys from starting as freshmen. EG’s garbage about Saban starting JPW over McElroy for “political reasons” is about the stupidest crock of BS that’s ever been posted here (and that’s a bold statement).

  19. There you go again putting words in my mouth. The political thing was clearly in reference to Shula. His pet ‘Mr. Alabama’ was going to be the QB. By the time Nicky came along JPW was the only qb with any game experience. Already having enough problems with Shulas lazy criminals he sure as hell wasn’t going to start a freshman qb too. And he was smart enough to see that the offensive woes were not the fault of JPW. In fact in 07 JP tried too hard to make up for some of the idiots errors and that’s when he had his major f—ups. Then because of the tough 07 season Mac still had no experience in 08. With all other things being equal even with Mac having superior talent – you don’t bench a 3 year starter senior for an inexperienced sophomore, as long as the guy’s playing winning football! JP was a vicious competitor, cheerleader and team leader; something last years team badly needed after the attitude adjustment from 07. I’m telling you, Mac didn’t fail to start over JP for lack of skill. It had to do with various intangibles and the slaughter JP produced against Clemson. If JP had failed miserably against Clemson he would have lost his job. RTR!

  20. Ballplay, my cell phone won’t let me post anymore on the previous topic, so I’m gonna answer you here. To a certain extent I agree with you about lawyers. Everybody hates em until they need one. But you, me, one of our friends or loved ones at any given moment could be looking at a life in prison falsely accused without the help of a lawyer. In that sense they are as essential as farmers. As for doctors you are misinformed. UAB was started as an extention of the Alabama medical school. Many classifications of doctors are educated there as they also are in T-Town. However, the difference is that at T-Town we are the nations and possibly the worlds #1 school of neuro-medicine and research. That is why the Alabama State Mental Health Facility – Bryce Hospital, is located on the campus. — On another subject – Careful, you might hurt my feelings commenting about the Tide box, broom stick and toilet paper. You had no way of knowing, but that was my invention. For the 1979 Sugar bowl (the Goal Line Stand) against Penn St. I came up with that little never before seen gadget. It was a gargantuan hit. Fans for both teams throughout the French Quarter and at the game were enthralled by it. The Times Picyune published my picture and I was interviewed by the local tv station. When the 79 football season began in the fall of 78 a few more were seen. By the 70 National Championship game against Arkansas and Lou Holtz, they were everywhere. Though usually with only one roll. Mine always had 2 rolls, one top and one bottom and a bigger Tide box. I also have a personal letter from Joe Paterno answering me when I asked him to please choose The Sugar Bowl and Bama to play in on New Years because of both Schools great tradition. He said Penn St. would be honored to play against Alabama and Bear Bryant. Of course I had ulterior motives. Penn St. was #1 and Bama’s only chance for a national championship was if Penn St chose the Sugar Bowl and we beat them. Which we did. To this day that is the darkest day in Penn St. football history. And I was sitting in the endzone directly behind The Goal Line Stand where Penn St’s monster fullback Mike Guman hit Barry Krauss so hard it knocked Barry out, chipped his helmet and temporarily paralyzed one side, but he stopped him cold and won the national championship on that play. See, you never know who you’re talking to on the internet. RTR!

  21. Opps, made a couple of typo’s. It was the fall of 79 when they started popping up at regular Bama games, and the next year at the 80 Sugar Bowl.

  22. E.G. Im at a loss for words my friend. How was I supposed to know that I was standing in the presence of an Eli Whitney/Thomas Edison/ Michelangelo ? I have wondered for years who the Artist/Engineer was that invented the Tide box with crap paper on a stick. I knew that there was something “special” about you. But wow, Im underwhelemed.

    Where do I start ? The simplistic beauty of it all is a good place. Bold , yet not too overbearing it screams “Hey , Im a dam redneck !!!”….yet it has an undertone of “Im not very smart though”…..

    Yes “Mr. tide box with crap paper on a stick”. This Bud light is for you.

    By the way, how old are you ? Im guessing mid 50’s. If so , Ill give some credence to your Tide arguements of there past greatness. Since you were there.

  23. I’m 60 and look and feel 40 thank God or all the girls I’ve loved – one or the other. Yes, I was there. I caught passes in HS from Kenny Stabler. I was at Legion Field for Bama-USC and Sam the ‘BAM’ Cunningham, when ‘Bear’ said ‘I gotta get me one of those’ and changed the face of Southern football forever. I was there for our ‘Sam Cunningham’s’ debut – Wilbur Jackson. I was there fos three straight Sugar Bowls – 78, 79 & 80, against Ohio St. – Woody Hayes, Penn St. – Joe Pa., and Arkansas – Lou Holtz for what should have been the only 3 peat national championships in history. But we were robbed when an undefeated #2 Bama killed Ohio St. 35-6 and Notre Dame upset Texas and jumped us in the final poll. We know the heartbreak of being royally f–ked too! I was there for Stablers unbelievable ‘Run In The Mud’ against Auburn. And a lot more. My pride for the State of Alabama together with the Bama football tradition and it’s national prestige is what turned me away from Auburn. You won’t believe this but I grew up hating Bama! But I followed ‘Snake’ there and after I finished in 71 my career took me all over the country. Amazingly I was still an AU fan. But I loved my State, and in places like California, Washington, Michigan and Pennsylvania – at that time they didn’t even know who Auburn was, but everywhere in every ‘burg’ they knew who Bama and ‘Bear’ was and wanted to talk about it. Within a couple of years I changed to my Alma Mater out of pride. But I was an Auburn fan durings the Pat Sullivan – Terry Beasly era, and I still fondly remember being at the Gator Bowl when AU and ‘Shug’ upset Texas – something Bama has never done. And I was peddling concessions in the stands for the Masonic Lodge and rooting for Auburn when David Langner pulled his Dejavu in the ‘Punt Bama Punt’ game. Lots of memories, lots of years. Yes, I was there! RTR!

  24. Seriously that is pretty cool E.G.

    Ballplay, I would love to meet you one day, you are a crazy dude that I love to argue with.

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