Tid1945

I was in the 10th grade in high school when Joe started his first game at Alabama versus Georgia in Birmingham to open the 1962 season. We won that game 35-0. This was the Saturday Evening Post game where CPB and Georgia coach Wally Butts were accused of fixing the game. The year before our quarterback was Pat Trammel who lead us to the 1961 national championship. Everyone was wondering if this new kid from Beaver Falls, Pa. would be worthy of filling Trammel's shoes. It didn't take us long to figure out that we had something special on our hands and that everything would be alright for the next three years. Before Joe hurt his knee against North Carolina State he was one of the most mobile quarterbacks I had ever seen. He could run as well if not better than he could pass. It's a shame he was so injury prone. If it had not been for the bad knees I think Joe would have gone down as one of the top two or three best quarterbacks of all times in both college and pro football.

I really enjoyed his talking about the team concept of football and the winning as more important to him over individual accomplishments. I guess it just comes natural when one played for the greatest team of all time, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

If a player is suspended by the NCAA then the player cannot be redshirted. This happened to Robbie Greene at Bama last year. He had not used his redshirt before being suspended and was not allowed to take it last year. I'm not sure how it works when the school suspends a player.