Nick Saban shares his training camp message to Alabama QBs competing to be the starter
This offseason, Alabama and head coach Nick Saban are dealing with a quarterback competition. The Crimson Tide even brought in a transfer. Still, the group stayed together to work and compete for the starting job.
At Alabama Football Media Day, Saban addressed the quarterback battle, sending a message to all those quarterbacks competing.
“Well, I think they all have an opportunity to compete for the job,” Nick Saban said. “But, this job that y’all talk about at quarterback, I’ve told our quarterbacks, this is not, Fall Camp is not the beginning of the end.”
Saban explained that Fall Camp is going to help someone separate themselves. However, the competition doesn’t end there. Players need to continue to compete into the season.
“You’ve got an opportunity to separate yourself, to show that you can play with consistency, and you can play winning football at the position,” Saban continued. “But, that competition goes on, and on, and on, and we need all the quarterbacks in the room to compete and to continue to compete, even far beyond the time that we name a starter.”
Backups are important in a violent sport. That’s been proven true time and time again at Alabama, where star quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa have missed time with injuries. Other times, a backup has needed to come in and help the program out of a tight spot. Tagovailoa replacing Jalen Hurts in a College Football Playoff Championship Game is a perfect example of that.
“We’ve had circumstances around here where quarterbacks have changed during the course of the year. You know what they are. You understand the history of what’s happened at this place,” Saban said. “So, that’s going to be the way this situation is. Somebody needs to separate themselves and then I want all the players to continue to compete so they can improve and if they have an opportunity to play, they’re going to be ready to play and play well.”
As of now, it appears to be a three quarterback race at Alabama, between Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, and Tyler Buchner. However, talented prospects Dylan Lonergan and Eli Holstein are also on the roster.
Paul Finebaum says Nick Saban could make a situation choice at quarterback
Deciding on a starting quarterback is a massive choice for Nick Saban. However, analyst Paul Finebaum thinks that choosing a quarterback based on the situation would also make sense.
“We’ll try not to use too much deductive logic here, but Nick Saban hires Tommy Rees. The first thing Tommy Rees does, he brings along his quarterback, Tyler Buchner — who, by the way, loses a job to Sam Hartman, but I’m not sure that’s any shame,” Finebaum said.
“I have people that argue Ty Simpson, but Buchner seems more likely. What you said about Milroe is 100% correct. He will maybe start the first game, but I think Alabama looks at him as somebody who can be situational and be a factor. He’s a phenomenal athlete, he can do a lot of things. Is he a starting quarterback? I doubt it.”