Alabama Football - A-Day Game 2016

John Parker Wilson competes in the quarterback challenge at halftime of Alabama's A-Day spring football game, Saturday, April 16, 2016, at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com )

John Parker Wilson last played football in the 2013 NFL preseason with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

His retirement ended, if only briefly, this week in Tuscaloosa. The former Alabama quarterback told AL.com he was the scout team quarterback two days this week as the Crimson Tide prepared for No. 13 LSU.

Wilson, 31, played the role of Tiger starter Danny Etling. The pocket passer has started the last five games, completing 89 of 147 passes for 1,129 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. Etling, a transfer from Purdue, won the job from Brandon Harris in the second week of the season.

Wilson, the Alabama starter from 2006-08, was not the first former Tide star to take scout team reps this season. Blake Sims played the role of Texas A&M's Trevor Knight two weeks ago.

"We try to stay on top of the rules," Alabama coach Nick Saban said last week. "We have people in our administration who do a good job of letting us know what we can and can't do and we would never do something like that unless we got it approved by the SEC office, which we did, and the NCAA."

After leading Alabama to the SEC West title in 2008, Wilson spent parts of five seasons with three NFL teams. The undrafted free agent never saw regular-season action in the pros.

Alabama and LSU kick off at 7 p.m. CT in Baton Rouge.