Brodie Croyle

Hey guys, this is Todd from Roll Bama Roll.  I thought I'd take Chris's offer and say a few things about Croyle after watching his entire college career.

First, my opinion is terribly biased.  There isn't an Alabama fan out there who wouldn't love to see Brodie succeed in the pros after everything he went through here. NCAA probation, the coach that recruited him away from Florida State by promising his father that he would look out for him like he was his own son bolted for Texas A&M after his freshman season, the next coach was fired before fall practice and never coached a down, he had to play almost an entire season with a seperated (non-throwing) shoulder because the 2nd stringer seperated his throwing shoulder and the 3rd stringer was kicked off the team after only one start for off the field troubles, an o-line that couldn't protect him from a litter of kittens, and on and on.  All that being said, I think he can develop into a great QB for y'all, on two conditions.

1.  The o-line HAS to protect him.  If he has time to set and make his reads, he's a killer.  The kid has all the talent in the world and an arm to back it up, but unfortunately for him (and us) he had to make a lot of passes on the run here because our o-line sucked big time.
2.  A strong ground game.  He was able to rely on the run a lot early on at Alabama and that gave him plenty of time to focus on the high percentage plays and get into the rhythm of game speed and to develop chemistry with his receivers without having to win the game all by himself.  By the end of his career though, he was able to take the whole team on his shoulders and make plays on his own.  If he can do the same in the pros, he'll step up his game and develop nicely.

The biggest con I can tell you about is that, for awhile, he had a bad tendency to lock onto a "favorite" receiver and air the ball out fifty yards on third and long into coverage while a wide open fullback or tight end was sitting on the first down marker just waiting for the ball.  He (mostly) got out of that habit and started checking down by the end of his senior season, but a lot of that was because there weren't any real "go to receivers" after Tyrone Prothro was injured and because he was always under pressure and was just trying to find the quicket dump off without taking a sack.  If he gets into a rhythm with a particular receiver up there, watch out for this.  Also, he was quite injury prone for a little while, with the aforementioned seperated shoulder his sophomore season and a torn ACL early in his junior year.  But he did bulk up quite a bit and make it through his senior year just fine despite taking A LOT of hits, so I think the worst of his injury problems are behind him.  So anyway, hopefully he'll work out for y'all.  I've considered myself a Steelers fan since I was about six, but when Derrick Thomas (another Alabama hero) was up there I always rooted for the Chiefs and I'll certainly be pulling for y'all with Brodie under center.