If Nick Saban is planning on leaving Alabama to coach Texas, he lied to his starting quarterback. Either that, or AJ McCarron is lying to us. Either scenario is a genuine possibility.

McCarron was asked about Saban’s futur on Thursday during an appearance on ESPN’s “College Football Daily.” The senior took a shot at his coach’s age before revealing that Saban told him he is staying put.

“I messed with Coach, [saying] he’s getting too old to start up again somewhere else,” McCarron said. “He told me he’s not leaving. And I know Miss Terry [Saban's wife] well enough; she runs that house. And she’s not allowing Coach to leave either. I think he’ll be at the University of Alabama for a little while.”

As recently as Thursday morning, a report indicated that Saban is in the process of figuring out “what his staff would look like” if he chose to leave Bama to coach the Longhorns. There have also been reports about Alabama officials growing uneasy over Saban’s hesitance to sign a contract extension proposal, which has supposedly been on his desk since Friday. One second he’s leaving, the next he’s staying, and the next he’s undecided.

Of course, Saban is the type of guy that probably wouldn’t tell anyone — not even his starting quarterback that he has won multiple championships with — what his intentions are. And if he was planning to leave Alabama, he certainly wouldn’t want his players to know that before their upcoming BCS bowl game against Oklahoma.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has not won three of the past four BCS National Championship Games by paying attention to distractions. Anything that is not directly related to football is a distraction, including AJ McCarron’s all-American smile on the latest cover of Sports Illustrated.

On Wednesday, a reporter made the mistake of asking Saban how he thinks McCarron “looks as a cover boy” and if Saban keeps copies of those types of magazines at home.

“First of all, you think I sit around all day looking at magazines or what?” Saban replied. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. You ask a question every week that I don’t know anything about. You need to come here and walk around and follow me around for like a week.”

Those who cover the Alabama football team know that Saban always refuses to discuss stuff that is printed and said in the media — whether he is lying about having heard it or not.

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