It was easy to tell how many years that AJ McCarron has fielded his football camp in Mobile. Every shirt on the field had the answer.

The youngsters running around at the AJ McCarron Football Camp on Saturday on the turf at Mobile Christian School’s Harrison Stadium sported shirts with “McCarron 10” on the back. That was the quarterback’s number as a three-time national champion at Alabama. But it’s also the number of camps that he’s sponsored since he left the Crimson Tide for the NFL.

And Saturday’s camp, like the nine before it, was free to attend.

“I have an issue with when you have the means to do it or the connections and you’re charging kids to come to a camp,” McCarron said. “I understand it. Somebody’s paying you, a company’s paying you to be there. But if it’s your own camp and you have the resources to be able to put on a free camp, you should be doing that. I don’t care if you’re in the pros or even in college now. You have no excuse. You’re getting paid, and you should have the resources and connection with your agency to be able to put on a free camp for the kids in your city.

“That’s one thing that bugs me when I see people putting on their own camps and charging kids. I don’t understand it. As long as we can do this and kids want to show up and have fun, we’re going to keep doing it. That’s something I look forward to.”

Most of Saturday’s football campers probably weren’t born when McCarron starred for the Crimson Tide.

McCarron was an All-State football and baseball player at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile. He served as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback when Alabama won the BCS national championships for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. McCarron won the Maxwell Award as the outstanding college player of the 2013 season, when he also was the runner-up in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.

McCarron has had a nine-season NFL career and played two seasons with the St. Louis Battlehawks in the XFL and the UFL.

After their work on the field, the campers went into the Mobile Christian School gym for a question-and-answer session with McCarron, where he talked about the importance of practice, schoolwork and steering clear of trouble.

McCarron also told the youngsters and their parents: “When we started this 10 years ago, I never thought we’d still have it going.” Then he asked the campers if they’d be back for next year’s camp, which got a resounding positive response.

“You never know,” McCarron said about the way he felt then and the way he does now about the camp. “You hope you have the support and the kids want to be a part of it. Whether I like it or not, I’m getting older, so you hope that your legacy lives on and the kids will know what you did and the work you put in and everything. It’s awesome to see. Heck, I’ve been out of college for – what now? …

“It’s awesome to still be doing it, and, hopefully, we can get more kids and keep growing this thing and be back next year.”

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A standard feature of each McCarron camp has been the quarterback’s goal to complete a pass to every camper. On Saturday, he had a 100 percent completion rate. Not that some balls didn’t hit the ground, but the QB and receiver kept trying until the connection was made.

The youngsters also go home with a camp card autographed as they watch by McCarron, who also signed shirts, shoes, caps and footballs on Saturday.

Assisting at the camp were Mobile Christian coach Charles Lawson, his staff and Leopards players.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.