Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux went viral for some comments he made this week criticizing Alabama as an institute of higher education, and one former Crimson Tide player fired back in a big way.
Thibodeaux, who is projected to be one of the top picks in this year’s NFL Draft, told FOX’s Joel Klatt that one of the reasons he chose Oregon over Alabama is he wanted his degree to mean something. He ironically said he is bothered by the “stigmatism” of athletes being dumb jocks.
“For me, I already hate the stigmatism of football players being dumb jocks,” Thibodeaux said. “Do you know the stigmatism of Alabama education? It ain’t the West Coast. It ain’t Harvard.”
He meant stigma, of course.
ESPN analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy ripped Thibodeaux for the comments. During his radio show “McElroy and Cubelic In the Morning,” McElroy and co-host Cole Cubelic mocked Thibodeaux for saying “stigmatism” when he meant stigma. McElroy also defended his Alabama degrees and challenged Thibodeaux to an IQ test.
“What I don’t understand is why he felt the need to cut down Alabama,” McElroy said, as transcribed by Erik Hall of The Tuscaloosa News. “And as someone who has always taken his academic situation very seriously, I’ll just come at him with this — if he’d like to take an IQ test, I’m available. If he’d like to take the Wonderlic test, I’m available. As a proud graduate with multiple degrees from Alabama, I will put my degree up against his any day of the week.”
McElroy, who was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist in 2010, said he received offers from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and most Ivy League schools in addition to Duke, Stanford, Northwestern and others. He chose Alabama, and he feels it served him well for both football and education.
To his credit, Thibodeaux at least acknowledged the irony of him spouting off about education and “stigmatism.”
Read between the lines, everyone correcting me gained some knowledge along the way, my mission is accomplished 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/yzj1j3f6iB
— Kayvon Thibodeaux (@kayvont) January 14, 2022
Klatt also apologized for not pushing back when Thibodeaux criticized Alabama.
No excuses…should’ve pushed back! Fact is a University of Alabama education is very good
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) January 13, 2022
Thibodeaux came off as arrogant in the interview (video here), which might bother some NFL teams. It’s not a reason to shy away from arguably the best defensive player in the country, but he’ll probably get some questions about it during the pre-draft process.
Photo: Jan 10, 2022; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Greg McElroy attends the 2022 CFP college football national championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
