Tide Tidbits - August 11, 2008

Team motivation comes off the field.
"Our team is a family. We will look out for each other. We love one another. Anything that attempts to tear us apart only makes us stronger."

Linebacker Rolando McClain didn't initially understand why he and his University of Alabama football teammates needed to say these affirmations, responding each time to the shouts of an instructor. Twelve times this summer, the Alabama football team sat through 30- to 45-minute classes devoted to mental conditioning and character development.

Alabama commitment AJ McCarron survived a gruesome childhood accident to become one of the nation's top football recruits
He just wanted to slow down, but instead AJ McCarron hit the gas.

McCarron, who one day may hold the fortunes of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team in his hands, was only a few days shy of his sixth birthday when his life, a life that is now humming in overdrive, could have careened to an sudden halt.

One minute, he was riding on a waverunner with his father, Tony, on Dog River. The next, his whole world went blurry — so blurry, in fact, that doctors didn't think he'd live to see 6.

Roll Tide!