Nick Saban on the status of Alabama's QB cake: 'I think it's ready to go'
At SEC Media Days in July, Alabama head coach Nick Saban compared the quarterback battle – which, at the time during summer workouts, was a three-player race – to baking a cake.
“Grandma Saban used to bake the best cakes in the world,” Saban said, “and I used to stand by the oven when I was a kid and say, ‘When is this cake going to be done? When is this cake going to be done?’ She said, “If I don’t let it go through and take it out of the oven too soon, it will turn to mush and it won’t be a really good cake.’
“So I think we have to sort of let this develop and make sure we let the cake bake until somebody separates themselves. And all the players are working hard. They all have a good attitude. They are all competing well.”
The quarterback position has experienced some changes over the first three weeks of the 2023 season, with the latest turn coming Monday with Saban naming Jalen Milroe the starter for the Ole Miss game. He was asked Wednesday where things stand in the baking process.
“I think the cake’s been in the oven, out of the oven, back in the oven, and I think it’s ready to go,” Saban said on the SEC coaches media teleconference.
Milroe did not play Saturday in Tampa. After the 17-3 win over the Bulls, when asked why he started Tyler Buchner and then went to Ty Simpson rather than Milroe, Saban said, “Everybody has the opportunity to respond in the right way when things don’t go exactly like you want them to, and we played the guys that practiced the best all week long.”
Milroe started the first two games of the Crimson Tide’s 2023 season. He was named the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after Alabama’s season-opening win over Middle Tennessee but didn’t have his best outing in the loss to Texas, throwing two interceptions.
That led Alabama to go back to the drawing board, and it started Buchner on the road at USF. However, the Notre Dame transfer struggled against the Bulls, throwing for 34 yards on 5-of-14 passing before being replaced by Simpson in the second quarter. Simpson threw for 73 yards on 5-of-9 passing before rushing for the game’s final touchdown (1 yard).
After not playing at USF, Milroe is back in the starting spot to begin SEC play. But have Saban and company given any thought to utilizing a two-quarterback system moving forward?
“We have not considered that,” Saban said to end his time on the SEC teleconference.
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