If you chart SEC champions over a 20-year period, the one consistent thing to me is you're not going to win if you don't have a quarterback. It's too critical of a position. He decides something every play.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The heartbeat of a football team is the quarterback position and I think everyone who has any intelligence about the game understands you must have consistency at that position to be a championship team.
When you talk about the SEC, you never get a chance to rest.
A lot of people think our standard is to be first in the SEC, be first in the country, first in our red zone, and run defense. We really don't go by that motto. We go by, 'Be the best Alabama defense there's been.'
There needs to be somebody that looks out for what's best for the game, not what's best for the Big 10 or what's best for the SEC or what's best for Jim Harbaugh, but what's best for the game of college football - the integrity of the game, the coaches, the players, and the people that play it.
In order to win in this league, you have to have a quarterback who can make all the throws, who makes great decisions, somebody who can get you out of bad situations, that just gives you a chance.
I don't want to be a quarterback that has all these stats but didn't win a lot of games.
At the end of the day, if you're not beating the teams on the road recruiting that you have to beat on the field, then you're probably not going to win many championships.
As a quarterback, obviously, you're going to be put in the forefront whether you like it or not, and if you're not then you're not doing your job.
When you are a free agent like I was, it definitely makes a big difference when you know there's stability at the quarterback position.
You've got to be diversified enough. That's the truth in the SEC and in college football.