ESPN SEC Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

	AP Photo/Robb Carr
	John Parker Wilson is the SEC's active leader in career passing yardage and touchdown passes.

Nick Saban says the Alabama offense under first-year coordinator Jim McElwain will be more quarterback friendly this season.

What exactly does that mean?

Senior quarterback John Parker Wilson sort of grins and gives you one of those, "You'll just have to wait and see" looks.

Maybe it's because he doesn't want to give away too much prior to Saturday night's opener against Clemson at the Georgia Dome (ABC, 8 p.m. ET).

Maybe it's because he feels as comfortable in McElwain's offense as he has in any since arriving in Tuscaloosa, a stay that includes three different offensive coordinators in the last three years.

Or maybe it's because he's found a friend ... literally.

Freshman receiver Julio Jones has been on campus all of about three months, but he and Wilson have struck up an endearing friendship.

The kind of friendships quarterbacks love.

"He can make big plays, whether that's blocking downfield or making Superman catches," Wilson said. "He can pretty much do it all."

Jones is already a YouTube legend, thanks to an unauthorized video that hit the Internet soon after one of Alabama's first preseason scrimmages.

Somebody circumvented Saban's tight screening process for closed scrimmages and captured the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Jones hauling in a deep pass from a scrambling Wilson one-handed down the sideline and then stiff-arming All-SEC safety Rashad Johnson on his way to the end zone for what looked to be about a 70-yard touchdown.

"We've seen a lot of those catches this preseason," Wilson said. "If the ball's up there, he's going to go get it."

The rest of the college football world gets its first glimpse of Jones on Saturday. It's fitting that his debut would come on such a national stage.

His mere presence on the field and playmaking ability should make an Alabama offense that struggled mightily down the stretch last season that much more potent.

But Jones isn't the only reason Wilson thinks this offense has evolved to the point where defenses will have to play the Crimson Tide more honestly than a year ago

"The best thing we've done is spread the ball around," Wilson said. "You'll see the backs catch the ball, tight ends catch the ball and then you've got guys like Julio and Mike McCoy (at receiver) that you have to account for.

"I think we're about as ready as we're going to be. We've got a lot of stuff we put in aimed toward Clemson. Let's go see what it looks like."

There were times last season when Wilson tried to do too much, times when he tried to make something out of nothing. He threw six of his 12 interceptions during the Crimson Tide's four-game losing streak.

The last thing he needs to be this season is a gunslinger, especially when you consider that the strongest part of Alabama's offense should be its offensive line.

More times than not, he's going to have adequate time to find Jones and the rest of his targets.

"John Parker has matured as a player," Saban said. "He's an emotional guy, but we don't need him making emotional decisions and trying to squeeze one in there. That's when you create bad plays for yourself. I think John Parker understands a lot better the difference in going out there and making a play within the framework of what we're trying to do and going out there and creating a bad play."

Wilson is the SEC's active leader in career passing yardage (5,651 yards) and is tied with Florida's Tim Tebow in touchdown passes (37). Wilson is also bearing down on Brodie Croyle's school records of 6,382 passing yards and 41 touchdown passes.

Rarely do you hear his name, though, in any conversation about the country's top quarterbacks. Even in the SEC, he's overshadowed by Tebow and Georgia's Matthew Stafford.

"I could care less, to tell you the truth," Wilson said about his stature, both nationally and in the SEC. "Preseason hype is just something to do in the summer. What matters to me is this team, and I think we have a good team. I think we're going to be able to put a really good product on the field, and all this stuff in the preseason doesn't really matter until the season."

Spoken like somebody who's confident in himself ... and his friends.