The Julio Problem

We’ve got a problem with Julio Jones. Now Julio is not the problem. The guy goes out every week and gives it his all. Even when we don’t throw the ball to him he is still blocking like crazy, breaking up interceptions, causing fumbles and in general doing whatever he can to help Bama win. Plus, you will never hear him complain about not getting the ball. He is actually a team player who wants what is best for the team.

But...not getting Julio the ball is not best for Alabama. First of all not getting Julio the ball is costing us points. But, it goes way beyond the scoreboard.

Julio Jones was the #1 player in the country coming out of high school. We probably got him because he lived in Alabama. But he is known around the country. Right now the 2011 number #1 player, the 2012 #1 player, and the 2013 #1 player are watching Alabama on ESPN. What are they seeing? Julio Jones, former #1 player not even getting the football. What will happen when they are approached by Coach Saban or our assistant coaches about coming to Alabama? They are going to be thinking "No way am I going there because look what happened to Julio."

And, if they don’t think about this coaches form the other teams are going to tell them about it. We will have a hard time, a very hard time convincing, the stud receivers like AJ Green or Calvin Johnson to come to Bama.

What will that mean? Well maybe nothing. Maybe we can win it all on defense and running the ball without stud receivers. But maybe not.

In the late 70's Bama was the best team in the country. There was a high school kid in GA named Herschel Walker. He didn’t really fit our wishbone scheme and so we either didn’t try very hard or didn’t try at all to get him and he went to UGA. We won the NC in 78 & 79 but in 1980 UGA with Herschel won the NC. In 1982 we didn’t even get Bo Jackson and he was from Alabama. Again I’m not sure if it was from not trying or what. But, I always wondered what would have happened if we would have been willing to change to the I backfield if Herschel would have come. Hey, we might have gotten Bo as well. We won it all in 78 & 79, but passed or missed on both Walker and Jackson and have only one NC in the last 30 years. It is a team game but winning individual awards, like the Heisman, will help your team in the short and long run.

All I’m saying is we have a problem with Julio because he is that good.. If he doesn’t get the ball a bunch and make All American next year (no way he makes it this year his stats are nothing) he will still sign a big NFL deal but Bama could suffer for squandering the receiver of a generation, even if we win the National Championship this year. Personally I doubt we can win the NCG, or even the SECCG, without Julio making many catches.

We can fix blame wherever we want but I think our coaches have got to figure out how to get the ball into Julio’s hands. I can promise you that if he were playing for anyone in the conference, even Vandy, he’d at least be All-SEC. He will be lucky to get any votes for All-SEC based on his stats for the 1st 7 games. Hopefully we will fix this problem on Saturday. If we don’t we will regret it.