Wilson recalls first trip to Fayetteville
September 15, 2008
Tomorrow’s story in the Eagle is on John Parker Wilson and his huge numbers against Arkansas.
Last season he was 24-of-45 passing for 327 yards and four touchdowns. The yards and TDs were career highs. Of course, he was 7-for-9 in the final minute, leading Alabama to a game-winning drive that ended with Matt Caddell’s touchdown reception with eight seconds to play.
But Wilson also recalled his first SEC road start, in Fayetteville, two years ago. He was 16-for-20 as a sophomore, for 243 yards and three TDs, including a 78-yarder to DJ Hall. But Alabama lost 24-23 in double overtime.
“I remember it being a lot louder than I expected. That place gets loud,“ the quarterback said. “We just played a good game, didn’t finish the way we needed to.
“I remember it rained a lot on Friday in the hotel. It was like, ‘We’re ain’t gonna be able to throw the ball at all. It’s rained all day.’ But we threw it a lot. We did good, we just didn’t finish the game.“
The quarterback said Alabama is prepared for the crowd noise.
“Luckily, all of our offensive line are old guys — Antoine,“ he said, referring to center Antoine Caldwell who was leaving the interview area Monday. “That’s really the tough part. The receivers, they get to look in at the ball when they’re split out. The running back’s watching me. I don’t know if he can see the ball back there or not. But the two tackles are the hardest things. Andre and whoever’s playing right are doing a good job.“
Reminded that Drew Davis has started at right tackle, Wilson laughed.
“Well, two guys played it last week,“ he said, referring also to true freshman John Michael Boswell. “I’m not allowed to talk about personnel. We know Andre’s gonna be playing left, right?“
Alabama ranks ninth in the nation and first in the SEC in third-down conversions, going 23 for 42 for a fine 54.8 percent conversion rate. The Tide is also 3-for-3 on fourth down.
Alabama coach Nick Saban said his quarterback has been good.
“Well, John Parker, I think, has done a really good job for us all year,“ Saban said after the Western Kentucky game. “I thought he was accurate throwing the ball, I thought we had some drops and I thought we had some miscues in the passing game which we have to continue to clean up. That’s the part of our game we have to continue to improve. We have to get our receivers to play with more consistency and get everything in synch with the quarterback – the receivers, the protection was better, we picked up the blitz better. I think we missed one ‘hot’ on third down, which led to us not converting. But we’re getting better, making progress.”
