New Tider
Spencer Pennington

Nickname: Buck
Birthday: 4-11-83
High School: Fayette County
HS Mascot: Tigers
HS Coach: Waldon Tucker
HS Position: QB
HS Number: 2
AL Number: Prefers a single digit
Official Visits: Alabama and Mississippi State
Second Choice: Mississippi State
Committed: 12-18-2000
Roommate To Be: Clint Johnston
Academic Status: Qualified

Q&A with Spencer Pennington

TI: Coach Fran's recruiting philosophy is to recruit the state of Alabama first. He believes that a player from Alabama will play harder for the home-state school. You've grown up an Alabama fan, and you've always wanted to play for Alabama. Do you think that you'll be motivated to play a little harder because you're playing for Alabama?

SP: Yes sir, I do. If I had gone to Mississippi State I would've played for them as hard as I could. But being from Alabama and growing up on Alabama football, and the fact that my brother [Jeremy Pennington] played there, I think that will bring out the best of me. They're recruiting a lot more kids from Alabama and I think it'll mean a lot more to those kids to play at Bryant-Denny Stadium in front of 85,000 fans from their home state.

TI: How much did the previous Alabama coaching staff recruit you?

SP: I got letters, but I never received phone calls from them. I didn't get any calls from Alabama until the new staff came in.

TI: Even though you were already committed to Mississippi State, when you heard that there would be a coaching change at Alabama, were you wondering if the new staff would contact you?

SP: Oh, of course. I especially thought about it when Coach [Waldon] Tucker took us to Bryant-Denny Stadium a few days before the state championship game to practice. I was hoping that the Alabama coaches would be there, and they were there. That's when they offered me a scholarship.

TI: Do you remember seeing the Alabama coaches at that practice?

SP: Yes sir. When we got off the school bus before practice, Coach [Les] Koenning was there and introduced himself. After we were practicing for about five minutes, I saw him get on his cell phone. He was calling Coach Franchione. About five minutes later, Coach Franchione and about six other coaches came walking through the tunnel.

TI: What did you think at that point?

SP: I was very excited. They watched practice and then afterwards they all introduced themselves and I got to know them a little bit better that day.

TI: What were your first impressions of Coach Fran?

SP: That he's very well spoken. He's a nice guy that doesn't try to intimidate you. He treats you as a friend and just tries to get to know you. He and all the staff are good guys. They're just awesome.

TI: When they offered you a scholarship what was your first thought? I mean, here you were committed to Mississippi State and now the school that you've always wanted to play for is offering you a scholarship.

SP: I didn't want to break my word to Mississippi State. That was the big thing. But I just had to go where I would be most happy, and that was the University of Alabama. It wouldn't have been right for Mississippi State and it wouldn't have been right for me to go there feeling that way.

TI: Have you spoken to the coaching staff lately?

SP: I talk to Coach Koenning about three times a week and I talk to Coach Franchione when I go down there on the weekends.

TI: Have they discussed with you what their plans are for the offense?

SP: Coach Fran says that he's going to have to learn all the players and then fit the offense to the personnel. He doesn't really know what the pass and run ratio will be yet. Any offense that will help us win, that's what I want to do. It doesn't matter if it's 70-30 in favor of the run. I just want to win ball games. It's not about stats, it's about moving the chains, and moving the chains is the quarterback's job.

TI: Besides Alabama and Mississippi State, what other schools recruited you?

SP: Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU and Ole Miss.

TI: Without mentioning specific schools, did any of the schools that recruited you try to use the NCAA rumors against Alabama?

SP: Yes sir, they did. It was brought up that Alabama was fixing to go on probation and that they would not be on TV or go to bowls. It really didn't bother me though because I felt that Alabama wasn't going to get that heavy of a punishment.

TI: Has Coach Fran discussed the NCAA rumors with you?

SP: I asked Coach Franchione about it and he said that he didn't think it would be very serious because they're a new coaching staff and they had nothing to do with it. He doesn't think we'll lose any TV time or any bowls, maybe just a few scholarships. That never really played into my decision

TI: Have you had the opportunity to spend time with Brodie Croyle?

SP: I spend time with Brodie just about every weekend. Actually, I spent the night with him last night [Saturday night, February 17]. We've become good buddies. It's going to be competition on the practice field, but when we step off the field there won't be any competition.

TI: So you two have become close?

SP: Yes sir. We're supposed to get together in a couple of weeks and go to his hometown and go hunting. So, yeah, we're pretty big friends.

TI: When you were considering switching your commitment to Alabama, did you give any consideration to Alabama's already having a commitment from Brodie?

SP: Brodie was never in my consideration. I've had competition everywhere I've been. I'm not scared of competition. I think of Brodie as another teammate. It's not going to be a Brodie-Pennington deal. It's going to be us working together to win the national championship.

TI: You will be playing baseball for the next several months. During that time, will you be able to prepare for football next season?

SP: Our baseball coach really doesn't like for us to workout [with weights] during the season. But if you're going to play football in the SEC, you have to workout. So I'll continue working out. On the weekends, I'll probably throw the football. But during the week I'm going to concentrate on helping our baseball team win.

TI: Do you prefer football or baseball?

SP: I can't choose.

TI: I know that you plan to play both sports at Alabama. But there's a chance that you might go very high in the upcoming baseball draft. Have you had any recent feedback from pro baseball scouts?

SP: I've had some scouts come to see me recently. The Cubs, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Florida Marlins have come in. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been sending letters. The Cubs and the Red Sox came to my house about two weeks ago. We sat down and talked about where the farm teams would be and how many games we'd play a week and stuff like that.

TI: Are they still predicting that you'll be drafted in the top three rounds?

SP: Yes sir, but you never know. You can't really tell where you're going to go this early. You have to wait and see what kind of year you have before the scouts make their final decision. So until my senior season is over, I won't really know anything more than I do right now.

TI: What are your goals at Alabama?

SP: I want to be a four-year starter at third base in baseball. I'd love to start next year in football, but I realize that it's going to be a totally different offense and I'm going to have to learn. If it takes a year to learn the ropes and redshirt, then that's what I'll do. But I want to start in both sports.

TI: Have you thought about what it's going to be like next season when you run out of the tunnel at Bryant-Denny Stadium for the first time?

SP: Every night before I go to bed I think about it. It sends chills down my back. The best thing that I can imagine is putting on your uniform before the game and running out in front of 85,000 fans. That's my dream.