When Greg McElroy was asked to describe one of his favorite memories from his decorated career at Alabama, the former Crimson Tide quarterback pointed to the 2009 SEC Championship Game.
“To finally get over the Florida hump and beat the Gators and more specifically on a personal level, I wanted to beat Tim Tebow,” McElroy said of his fellow ESPN college football analyst. “Tim knows this and it’s no secret.
“He was the guy that Alabama had prioritized in recruiting and I was the backup plan.”
Instead, Tebow chose to sign with the Gators and Urban Meyer, so McElroy moved up on the Tide recruiting board.
“All I wanted my entire career was a chance. A chance to play against a team he was leading,” explained McElroy, who would get that chance after leading Alabama to the conference championship game in 2009 and a matchup with undefeated No. 1 Florida.
McElroy would take home MVP honors after passing for 239 yards and a touchdown while leading his team to a 32-13 win. The Crimson Tide won the national championship that season with a victory over Texas in the Rose Bowl.
McElroy said he and Tebow have long put that rivalry to bed, but the SEC title-game win still means a lot to him.
“To play the way we did in that game and to play for each other in that game was really special. Everything about that season was so, so cool,” he said.
