A.J. McCarron Makes Surprising Statement About Alabama's NIL After Florida State Loss

Alabama is searching for answers after they opened the new season with an upset loss to Florida State.

As the college football world sounded off on the Crimson Tide and second-year coach Kalen DeBoer, one of the Tide's former quarterbacks didn't mince words on the state of the program himself. A.J. McCarron, Alabama's famed quarterback from 2009 to '13, spoke on Alabama's name, image and likeness funds and seemed to display a pretty bleak outlook when you compare the school to other college football powerhouses.

"You look at these other teams that have $40-50 million in NIL," McCarron said in an appearance on the McCready & Siskey Podcast via 247Sports' Mike Rodak. "Alabama—and I know this for a fact, talking to multiple people in the program—Alabama has less than $20 million in their NIL."

With the pressure already on DeBoer, who would have a pricy buyout if the team decided to go in another direction, McCarron thinks the coach of the Tide matters less compared to the state of their NIL.

"You know what helps Alabama from a recruiting standpoint?" He continued via 247Sports. "It's the fact that Alabama has been Alabama, and people go there because they know you're going to be able to compete for national championships, year-in and year-out. And you're gonna go into the NFL, most likely, if you do what you're supposed to do.

"If you start losing, all of that goes away. And now you can't pay guys what other schools are dishing out? Now it hurts you even more. I don't care who you have as a coach—whether Coach [Nick] Saban, Coach DeBoer, it doesn't matter."

The Tide were left out of the College Football Playoff field last year in DeBoer's first season. They lost to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl after regular-season losses to Oklahoma, Tennessee and a shocker to Vanderbilt. Now, with a loss to the Seminoles to begin the 2025 season, they have to get the train back on the tracks quickly. They have an opportunity to do so in their next game against UL Monroe. Alabama has a few weeks before they have to take on No. 4 Georgia.

McCarron says the program faces an uphill battle from an NIL standpoint, We'll have to wait and see what the future holds amid the rocky road the Tide have faced.