Greg McElroy recalled waiting until after his freshman year in 2007 to ask Alabama coach Nick Saban for a favor. McElroy figured Saban didn't need the whole backstory about his dad's lifelong dream to see him wear Joe Namath's number, so he pulled Saban aside one day and asked him straight up for the change to No.
12. «You know,» Saban said, «that's the number I wore.» McElroy said he shot back, «Yeah, that's of course why I want to switch to it.
Namath, [Kenny] Stabler, those guys have nothing to do with it. It's really about you.» Saban obliged, but the accommodation came with expectations.
Because Saban not only wore No. 12, he wore it while quarterbacking his high school to a state championship in 1968. It's a fact that every Alabama quarterback who spoke to ESPN said they were aware of — even Bryce Young, who wasn't born until three decades later.