A few internet rumors tend to make the summer rounds when Alabama football news slows to a crawl. White helmets are a favorite.

Adopting a live elephant mascot is perhaps the best. In light of the death of LSU's Mike the Tiger VI, a line of questioning began Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans' meeting with reporters Tuesday afternoon.

So it was only natural to see if Evans would be interested in a two-tusked, one-trunked animal leading the Crimson Tide into Bryant-Denny Stadium.

"Absolutely," he said without hesitation. "If they really could make that happen, I would be for it. Absolutely."

And would he volunteer to ride this hypothetical animal?

"Yeah," Evans said. "I would ride it but Coach Saban probably wouldn't even let that happen. That's just a dream."

As it turns out, Evans came to Alabama a few generations late. The school once housed a live elephant mascot on campus. In 1947, homecoming queen Sue Donegan rode Alamite the elephant into a stadium of 25,000 cheering fans, according to the UA Library.

Evans said having an elephant on the field could provide an intimidating atmosphere like the one created by LSU. Mike the Tiger's cage would be traditionally left by the visiting team's locker room entrance.

"Just to have a live animal right there sitting in your face," Evans said. "That's why I say with the elephant, if we could kind of match it with a live elephant and bring him out there, so that would be fun."

It turns out Evans is quite the animal enthusiast.

The smiling linebacker even suggested something of an Olympics for live animal mascots.

It would be a "mascot event where they try their little activities and we can see who the best is," Evans said.

Alabama's next opponent, Tennessee has a famous live representation of the Vol program on the sideline. Evans said he won't seek out Smokey but he'd have interest if approached.

"He might bite me though," Evans said.