AJ McCarron’s most recent game as a pro quarterback came on June 9, 2024, in the St. Louis Battlehawks’ 25-15 loss to the San Antonio Brahmas in the United Football League playoffs.
But McCarron isn’t through with football. It’s just a matter of what form his future with football will take.
“I don’t know,” McCarron said when asked if he had played his final game. “I know I can still play. I’m training kids. I’m training Bubba Thompson at South (Alabama), Tate Graham at Baker (High School), and some younger kids in the off time. They make the old man pull out his cleats every once in a while to show my skills in some drills, and I spin the ball and it comes out and I’m like, ‘I still got it.’
“But I don’t know. I’m enjoying this time, being with my kids. I don’t ever want to say never, but we’ll see what happens. I’m just enjoying being a dad right now.”
McCarron has returned from a long layoff previously. The former Alabama All-American sustained a knee injury on Aug. 21, 2021, as the Atlanta Falcons’ starting QB in an NFL preseason game against the Miami Dolphins.
The injury put McCarron on injured reserve for the entire 2021 season, and he didn’t play again until Feb. 19, 2023, when he returned with St. Louis in the XFL. McCarron followed that with an NFL season with the Cincinnati Bengals and another campaign with the Battlehawks.
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While McCarron hasn’t been playing football over the past year, he has been talking about it in a variety of media settings and most regularly on “The Dynasty: A Podcast on the Alabama Crimson Tide.” McCarron, former Alabama All-American running back Trent Richardson and Crimson Tide announcer Chris Stewart provide the personalities for the podcast.
“It’s been awesome,” McCarron said. “We’ve made some headlines here recently, but it’s all entertainment. Sinclair (Broadcast Group)’s been awesome to be a part of. They have a great track record in TV itself and then now with the podcast world, so starting ‘The Triple Option’ and then us, and I know they have some other ones. But being blessed to be a part of the first college one they came out with for Alabama called ‘The Dynasty,’ so I’m excited. It’s been awesome to be a part of with Chris Stewart, the voice of Alabama football, and Trent Richardson, who was a legend at Alabama and a teammate of mine. We’re just excited.
“Kind of ready for the season to get started so we can have more to talk about, but it’s been awesome to be a part of so far.”
McCarron is sharing the expertise and experience gathered through a championship career with Alabama, nine seasons in the NFL and two more in spring football.
An All-State football and baseball player at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile, McCarron was a member of three Alabama teams that won the BCS national championship. He served as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback for the title teams for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. McCarron won the Maxwell Award as the outstanding college player of the 2013 season, when he also was the runner-up in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.
That resume could get McCarron into the College Football Hall of Fame.
To be considered for the College Football Hall of Fame today, a player must have been a first-team All-American selection by one of the organizations the NCAA uses to compile its annual consensus All-American team. Players aren’t considered for the College Football Hall of Fame until 10 years after their final college season. They also aren’t considered while they are active professional players.
If McCarron has completed his pro career, then he is eligible for consideration. The American Football Coaches Association and Walter Camp Football Foundation chose him as a first-team All-American in 2013.
Maxwell Award winners have a good record of earning enshrinement.
Of the 63 winners of the Maxwell Award in the 20th century, 61 are in the College Football Hall of Fame. The record is spottier for the 21st century winners, not surprising given the backlog of candidates for the College Football Hall of Fame, the prohibition against pros and the required 10-season wait. But three of the nine eligible for consideration have made it so far – Vince Young, Tim Tebow and Andrew Luck.
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Players on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot are nominated by athletic directors, head coaches and sports-information directors at National Football Foundation-member schools.
The NCAA FBS nominees are sorted geographically for eight District Screening Committees. The committee members vote on which players will represent their region on the ballot. Players who received significant support in the final voting in the previous year but did not make the College Football Hall of Fame are held over on the ballot automatically.
More than 12,000 National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame voters receive the ballot. The voting is considered by the NFF’s Honors Court, which makes the annual selection of the Hall of Fame class.
“I don’t even know the rules behind it or how long you have to be out or when you can be on the ballot,” McCarron said about the College Football Hall of Fame. “… It would be a great honor. It’d be awesome to achieve that and have my kids there. That’s something that makes you proud as a dad. Hopefully, one day. It’d be sweet.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
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