HOOVER, Ala. – The quarterback who’s won the last two national championships might have been the player flying the most under the radar relative to his status at SEC Media Days this week.
Sure, he was surrounded by one of the larger media contingents of the 42 players that were paraded through the Hyatt Regency over the last three days. But it wasn’t close to the amount that swarmed Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel Wednesday morning. South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had a more sizeable group on Tuesday afternoon as well.
McCarron was at most the third most hyped player of the three-day annual event, and that’s O.K. with him.
“Being under the radar for me is great,” McCarron said. “I’ve never been the type of guy that’s asked for spotlight or want to be in any time of spotlight. I’m a team player and I don’t care about my personal goals or my personal stats. I’m just enjoying the time that I’m having with my teammates.”
The most attention McCarron received this week had nothing to do with his play on a football field.
McCarron was Maziel’s roommate at the Manning Passing Academy last weekend and, depending on which report you believe, may or may not have failed to wake up Manziel on the morning Manziel was dismissed from the camp.
McCarron didn’t have much of a response when asked about the incident, and didn’t feel like he had to.
“I can’t answer on Johnny Manziel’s part,” McCarron said. “My name’s AJ. Everything that has to do with him, he’s his own man. I’m not going to speak on another man’s business.”
McCarron got swept up into the storm of the biggest SEC Media Days story in recent memory. Rumors were flying on twitter, while reporters shared conflicting stories using anonymous sources.
“In the world we live in nowadays, everything’s about social media and what type of fame you can get off of that and spotlight and everything,” McCarron said. “That’s just not the way I am. I don’t need spotlight. I’m happy in my own skin and the person I am. I just try to represent everybody in a good way.”
And even though he says he prefers to avoid the spotlight, there is still a great deal of attention that comes with an athlete of McCarron’s standing.
“You can’t be a normal 22-year-old kid,” he said. “Every 22-year-old is not doing what I’m doing. And I’m not able to do what they can do. I can’t go out and act a fool in public and can’t go out and drink excessively and being wild and stuff.”
