Alabama's Greg McElroy shows mettle in big games

Not everyone would ask Greg McElroy to lead the fourth-quarter drive for a touchdown and throw the 25-yard pass for the win.

But he certainly is the player you would ask to win the big game.

How absurd is that?

The Alabama quarterback, who has been labeled a game manager even by one of his own running backs, has not lost a game as a starting quarterback since the eighth grade, yet he is one of the more under-appreciated quarterbacks in college football. He doesn’t throw the effortless, pretty deep ball or hum the ball on the deep out.

The knocks should bother McElroy. They don’t. Not anymore.

He has a national championship, and he is secure heading into his senior season. Maybe there was a time when you could disturb McElroy with this idea that he was not a real quarterback, but not now.

“Going into the season last year I had so many insecurities I wasn’t sure how it was all going to pan out,” said McElroy. “I wasn’t sure what to expect the first time I took the field as the starting quarterback. I’ve learned so much about myself, and I have grown so much as a person I feel so much more comfortable in who I am.

“I have learned to deal with the adversities and not wear my emotions on my shoulder.”

McElroy is comfortable and so is everybody around him, for good reason. In 2009, while leading Alabama to the national title, he set a school record for the lowest interception percentage (one pick every 81.2 passes).

That number does not impress people who want to see yards and touchdown passes, which are supposed to be the true measures of a terrific arm.

McElroy does not have those big passing numbers, but he has the number that trumps all stats: 14-0. That is his record as a starter at Alabama.

In the national-championship win over Texas, McElroy completed six of 11 passes for 58 yards and, of course, zero interceptions. The numbers were modest, but not the courage. McElroy played with two cracked ribs, an injury that bothered him for several weeks before the title game.

McElroy said he was surprised the news of the broken ribs did not get out before the Texas game.

“Up until a week before the championship game, we weren’t sure they were broken,” McElroy said. “They gave me muscle relaxers because they thought I was having muscle spasms. It was still killing me. They finally did a bone scan, and the ninth and 10th ribs on the left side were broken.”

“I’m awfully glad it didn’t [get out].”

McElroy will not be scrutinized this season as much as junior wide receiver Julio Jones, who is trying to rebound from an injury-plagued 2009 season, or powerful sophomore running back Trent Richardson, who may emerge as the next great Alabama running back, or Heisman winner Mark Ingram. But give him time. McElroy might surprise you.

In a preseason meeting with media, he seemed to suggest that it was time for him to take another step as a quarterback, and not merely point Alabama in the right direction, but actually be the engine. It will be interesting to see if McElroy is allowed more downfield throws.