Tide's 'distributor' Greg McElroy remains unfazed by success

Associated Press

TUSCALOOSA -- Post-practice dissatisfaction was clear to anyone that noticed the bright red shade of Greg McElroy's face

Lackadaisical turnovers will do that to Alabama's senior quarterback.

"As a quarterback, you always take the blame," McElroy said last week. "We've had a few too many turnovers in the passing game over the last few days. It's a little bit frustrating for me as the quarterback. I haven't done a good job taking care of the ball in some cases.

"I don't know if 'Careless' is necessarily the thing, but I think sometimes you get drawn into the lull of practice at this point, and you're not thinking every single snap, which is a real negative."

If you haven't noticed, the cerebral leader of the Crimson Tide's offense tends to be quite the perfectionist.

He hasn't failed much in his young life. Mistakes of any kind don't sit well and aren't forgotten by a young man who has applied be a Rhodes Scholar, made exactly one 'B' as an undergraduate at Alabama and also hasn't lost a game as a starting quarterback since eighth grade.

And yet, details of that game still stick out to him.

"I could tell you every snap. We lost 8-6," McElroy said. "We missed our extra point, and then when it was tied 6-6, the center snapped it over my head for a safety."

As a returning starter and national champion, McElroy may harp on mistakes this preseason, but hardly anyone else around Alabama's team is doing that.

If anything, teammates and Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban describe McElroy as more confident this season, smarter in his reads and more capable in his deep throws, an emphasis after the dink-and-dunk nature of the 2009 season.

"Everybody wants to improve their consistency," Saban said, "and we wanted to improve our explosive plays and do a better job of getting the ball to our skill guys, especially down the field ... We certainly have done that, and Greg has improved his ability to do that."

McElroy lit up an inexperienced, banged-up secondary for 360 yards and six touchdowns during the preseason's first scrimmage roughly two weeks ago. While Saban noted that particular afternoon was designed around passing and taking shots downfield, McElroy was still an efficient 26-of-33 on the day with no interceptions.

He fired two interceptions in another scrimmage a week later, but one was on a tipped pass and the other in a Hail Mary situation at the end of the workout.

"Greg has done a really good job of executing," Saban said. "I think he's more confident, more comfortable."

McElroy will give himself the compliment that, "I think my decision-making has gotten a lot quicker. I don't hold the ball too long."

"He's able to read the defense a lot quicker," linebacker Dont'a Hightower said. "He makes a lot of checks. He knows his receivers, where to put the ball, different things like that. Sometimes he kind of makes me mad. We line up for a blitz, and he knows it's coming before it even comes."

But perhaps the toughest thing he has had to deal with as Alabama's starting quarterback is how to proceed when things aren't going according to plan. During his first start, McElroy was demonstrably upset on the field when Virginia Tech's defense had success early in the game.

The perfectionist in McElroy popped up again later in the season, when a mid-season slump in the passing game - and subsequent criticism - wore on him. After a redemption-style victory over LSU in early November, McElroy fired back that others "lost faith" in him and that "it really ticks me off."

Entering the preseason, McElroy indicated he has changed his approach to from last season. He looked back and observed, "I had so many insecurities."

"I've learned to deal with the adversities and not wear my emotions on my shoulder," he said at last month's SEC media days.

Despite the talk of a beefed-up downfield aerial attack, Alabama still has Heisman winner Mark Ingram and touted backup Trent Richardson as its running backs. And McElroy still cites his role in Alabama's offense is to "be a distributor."

"Greg is just real smart, man," Ingram said. "He knows where everybody is supposed to be on the field, from his deep routes to his check-down route. And he's going to make the right decision and put the ball in the right place. He's grown up a lot as far as being smarter and knowing just how to control the huddle, control the offense, spread the offense. I think he's doing a great job this fall."