AJ McCarron explains how 2009 Alabama summer workouts ‘ruined’ peanut butter for him

Aug 31, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron (5) motions at the line of scrimmage during a game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Coming out of high school, AJ McCarron was a tall and relatively skinny quarterback, but then he met then-strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran.

Cochran had his ways of getting all of his players to the desired build. In 2009, McCarron went into summer workouts and learned of a camp designed for the linemen.

“I was skinnier,” McCarron said on The Dynasty: A Podcast on the Alabama Crimson Tide. “Coming out of high school, I was 6-3, 180 pounds. I remember the big boys having what they called fat camp. They’d go in early morning, 6 a.m. and have to go workout. Get in the sauna. All types of stuff to lose weight.”

However, shortly after, McCarron became one of the first individuals to partake in a new camp that Cochran created.

“Cochran started a skinny camp,” McCarron said. “We had to go in and every morning, me and Kenny Bell, we had to eat a jar of peanut butter. Every morning. We had to finish it. There weren’t no days off. A jar of peanut butter. You could put it in a protein shake. You could put it on PB&Js. You could just grab a spoon and just eat it. But you had to finish a jar of peanut butter every morning. I did this. I ended up getting to about 200 pounds at the end of that season. It ruined me from peanut butter. I couldn’t eat peanut butter. It scarred me.”

Ruining peanut butter for someone sounds like a crime, but McCarron went on to win three national championships at Alabama, so perhaps it was worth it.

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