Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: Jersey Number 12

Need your fix of Alabama sports? BamaCentral has you covered with jersey number 12

Special to BamaCentral

In 1978, Michael Landrum, a freshman quarterback from tiny Sweet Water, Ala. (not to mention the first black quarterback signed by Paul W. “Bear” Bryant), was suddenly thrust into a 31-10 victory against LSU. 

That he got into the game wasn’t surprising. Bryant was notorious for not running up the score, preferring instead to play second-, third-, even fourth-stringers to get his players valuable game experience.

However, what was surprising to Landrum was being issued the number 12 jersey, which at Alabama is about as exclusive as it gets.

“I started getting butterflies after managers gave me the tear-away jersey,” Landrum said after the game. “When I first went out there, I was a little shaky. But after a couple of plays, I felt better.”

In college football, there are certain uniform numbers that are synonymous with a program, and given to certain or special players.

At Syracuse, it’s No. 44, worn by Heisman trophy winner Ernie Davis, Jim Brown and Floyd Little. Notre Dame’s No. 3 is incredibly popular because it was worn by Joe Montana along with some other famous names. Michigan rarely gives out No. 1.

Numbers used to identify individual players were not recommended until 1915, and it wasn’t until 1937 that they were required on both the front and back of game jerseys.

Since that time, Alabama has had scores of players associated with the numbers they wore, like Don Hutson’s No. 14, and Cornelius Bennett’s No. 97 (although more recently you’re probably talking about Shaun Alexander’s No. 37, Julio Jones' No. 8 and Tua Tagovailoa in No. 13).

However, the Crimson Tide has never retired a jersey number, and if it did it would almost certainly be No. 12, now all but reserved for great quarterbacks.

Among those who have worn the number include Pat Trammell, Kenny Stabler, and the man its most-commonly referred to, Joe Namath (incidentally, Bart Starr wore No. 10, but had a much better pro career than college).

The last two starting quarterbacks to wear No. 12 were Greg McElroy, who helped guide the Crimson Tide to the 2009 national championship, and Brodie Croyle, whom from 2002-5 broke most of Alabama’s passing records.

“He’s a pretty humble guy, especially with everything he goes through in this town,” center JB Closner said about Croyle, who was also his roommate.

The two games Croyle is remembered for the most are the 2006 Cotton Bowl, which Alabama won on a last-second field goal against Texas Tech, and the dominating performance against No. 5 Florida on October 1 of that same season.

Croyle completed 14 of 17 passes for 283 yards with three touchdown passes, including an 87-yard jaw-dropper to junior wide receiver Tyrone Prothro on the Crimson Tide’s first offensive play. Not only did the performance land him on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but Croyle was briefly considered a serious candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

“It’s cool,” Croyle said at the time. “It’s always fun to be mentioned for those types of things.”

Meanwhile, McElroy made his mark against the Gators in the 2009 SEC Championship Game, when he out-performed Tim Tebow by completing 12 of 18 passes for 239 yards, one touchdown and no turnovers to be named the game’s most valuable player. The 32-13 victory signaled a changing of the guard in the SEC, as Alabama went on to win the national championship and another two years later.

Which brings us to Alabama’s other big tradition regarding numbers, to wear or display how many national titles the Crimson Tide has won. For example, after UA beat LSU 21-0 to win the 2011 national championship at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, ESPN switched the team helmet from No. 13 to No. 14 for the postgame show.

The Crimson Tide is up to No. 17.