AJ McCarron rips 'different era' at Alabama: 'Everybody's worried about f****ing TikTok'

In 2012, AJ McCarron helped lead Alabama to the fourth national championship of the Nick Saban era. It was the Crimson Tide’s second straight title as they sat atop the college football world, and a new chapter began in January when Kalen DeBoer took over.

In the time since, McCarron has noticed “different” things around the program. As a result, on the McCready and Siskey podcast, he said “it’s not the same.”

McCarron specifically cited the impact social media and NIL are having on college football as a whole. He said those weren’t around at the peak of the Saban era, which is why he said things are “not the same,” and Alabama fans should get used to it. However, he made it clear he wasn’t blaming the coaching staff.

“I think, for sure, the standard that everybody was used to for so long after Alabama fans went through a bunch of hell leading up to those glorious years, I think it’s definitely a different era,” McCarron said. “I don’t think you’ll see the same standard from discipline, just things that the team seems to do. It’s a new day and age. Everybody’s worried about f—ing Tik Tok and having a reel and being on highlights for their personal self and personal gain, and how much money they can get from NIL. We just didn’t have that s–t back then. It was a team sport. You came together as a team because you had one common goal, because you knew that’s how you were going to make your money, was by winning.

“Winning attracts people to that program, it attracts scouts, it attracts GMs, it attracts ownership to allow yourself that opportunity to go make yourself a lot of money and change your family tree for a long period of time. You can just tell. It’s not the same. I would think Bama fans should get used to that in a way of, hey, it’s not gonna be what you knew from 2008 up until last year where there was just a certain standard. That’s not a knock on the coaching staff or a knock on anybody. It’s just a different era. I think it’s something that they’re going to have to buckle up if they’re not ready for it.”

Alabama has seen an up-and-down last few weeks as the DeBoer era gets underway. The Crimson Tide were the toast of the college football world when they knocked off Georgia at Bryant Denny Stadium, but a loss to Vanderbilt just a week later changed the conversation. A narrow win over South Carolina provided a bright spot, but last week’s loss to Tennessee made the path to the College Football Playoff tougher for DeBoer’s group.