Former Alabama QB AJ McCarron Says Tide Lack 'True Leaders'

Former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron went on the radio Tuesday and said a bunch of things to make Tide fans angry, continuing a trend he started in the offseason. (Apparently, rehabbing his shoulder in Cincinnati is not taking up too much of his time.)

Speaking his mind after the Crimson Tide lost their first game of the season at Ole Miss, McCarron questioned the leadership on the current roster.

"I think one of the things that this team is lacking that hurts them the most is not having the true leaders like we had last year and guys that, when things go bad, 'hey, let's calm everybody down, pick it back up and go back to work and get back on the right track,'" McCarron told Tuscaloosa's Tide 99.1 FM radio show, per Michael Casagrande of AL.com.

On the topic of wide receiver Amari Cooper, whose 52 receptions this season are 40 more than any other player on the team, McCarron wondered about the decision-making dichotomy between head coach Nick Saban and first-year offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin:

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I don't know if that's Lane doing that or if coach Saban is kind of putting the handcuffs on Lane like I've known Coach to do in the past on his offensive coordinator and we're going to be very bland and run this play and do this and we'll throw it on third down if we have to. It's going to be interesting to see how they bounce back against Arkansas this week and what kind of offense comes out this week.

I understand Coop is an unbelievable player. He was that for us when I was there, but when you target somebody so much ... I think that was one of the best things we did while I was there. We spread the ball around to everybody. I mean, I think in numerous games ... where we had almost everybody on offense catch the ball that was eligible to catch the ball. Teams could never really pinpoint and play their defenses to cover Coop and I think that's one of the things they're struggling with right now.

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Here is the full audio recording of McCarron's comments:

And here is what Saban had to say in response:

McCarron led Alabama to back-to-back national titles after the 2011 and 2012 seasons and the Sugar Bowl after the 2013 season. After losing the Sugar Bowl to Oklahoma—the first season-ending loss of his career—he said on The Jim Rome Show that the team was plagued by having too much success, which influenced the younger players.

His opinion holds weight in Tuscaloosa because of the legend he created the past three seasons, but at this point, McCarron is starting to become an unnecessary headache for the current players. Alabama lost a close road game against a team that is ranked No. 3 in the current Associated Press poll. Its offense is ranked No. 2 in the country according to the S&P+ ratings at Football Outsiders.

There is not exactly trouble in paradise. And even if there were, Saban—not McCarron—is the one who is best equipped to fix it.

On the point of Saban "handcuffing" his offensive coordinators—the point from McCarron's interview that will probably grab the most headlines—it is salient to look not just at Alabama's numbers, but also at Michigan's. The Wolverines, after all, hired former Alabama coordinator Doug Nussmeier to run their offense this offseason, ostensibly unshackling him from the "binds" Saban had "tied."

In its first three games against power-conference teams (counting Notre Dame), Michigan gained 768 yards on 195 plays—an average of fewer than four yards per play. It didn't score an offensive touchdown against Notre Dame and Utah and looked even worse against Minnesota.

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So much for Nussmeier's "liberation."

McCarron's comments will serve as a midweek distraction for the Alabama media, and maybe even one or two players, but on the whole, his opinion has little to no bearing on the current team.

If Alabama loses at Arkansas this weekend, it will be because the Razorbacks better than people realize. It won't be because the team "lacks true leaders," and it especially won't be because the Tide are distracted by what the Cincinnati Bengals' third-string quarterback had to say.

And rightfully so.