Greg McElroy explains what Nick Saban's decision to withhold depth chart means for Alabama QB situation
Nick Saban withheld the depth chart ahead of Alabama’s Week 1 game against Middle Tennessee State, so who’s the quarterback?
Greg McElroy would be surprised if it wasn’t Jalen Milroe to start things out for the Crimson Tide on offense. But there’s three different options between him, Ty Simpson or Tyler Buchner.
McElroy said Saban wanted to maintain a competitive advantage knowing what’s just around the corner.
“A lot of people are reading into this assuming that there’s some type of issue …. I didn’t read into it too much, especially knowing who they play Week 2, that being the Texas Longhorns.” McElroy said Tuesday on SportsCenter. “And the fact last year Middle Tennessee, that’s who they have this week. They did give Miami a run and knowing the quarterback position specifically, the offense could be altered significantly by who the starting quarterback is.
“Jalen Milroe’s skill set is extremely different from that of Ty Simpson, which is very different from that of Tyler Buchner. So you would offer a competitive advantage to the opposing team by announcing a depth chart that is set in stone.”
Milroe has experience from last season while Simpson pushed for the job this offseason. Buchner came in as a transfer from Notre Dame, following offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, giving him a shot at winning the Alabama quarterback job.
“I think this is a fluid situation,” McElroy said. “In a perfect world, they get a big lead on Saturday, and they evaluate all three of their options at the quarterback spot. As of right now I would be very surprised if Jalen Milroe isn’t the starter on Saturday against Middle Tennessee and I would imagine that they’ll probably give him a nice long extended look, because he does have experience and he’s won support amongst many of the veterans within the locker room.”
Evidently, Saban isn’t a fan of the process, believing depth charts cause more problems than they’re worth. During his press conference on Monday, the Crimson Tide leader explained his thoughts on the matter.
“I know that your number one focus is not on the game, it’s on the depth chart,” Saban said. “Look, there’s a lot of competition on the team. When we put a depth chart out, you all think that’s like, final. Like this is etched in stone. It’s going to be this way forevermore. Just because we come out of fall camp, and that’s where it is. It creates a lot of distractions on our team.
“It creates a lot of guys thinking, ‘Well, this guy won the job and I’m not going to play now,’ or whatever. And quite frankly, we don’t need that.”
So it still remains to be seen who the Alabama quarterback will be, so you might as well tune in this weekend for the exact answer.