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Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com
Two ESPN college football insiders fielded the same first question when they sat down with reporters on Thursday night in Mobile before appearing at the DEX Imaging/Reese's Senior Bowl 24th annual L'Arche Football Preview.
Ivan Maisel and Trevor Matich were asked to assess Alabama's quarterback situation. The Crimson Tide has two well-regarded signal-callers returning from its 2017 CFP national-championship team.
The SEC Offensive Player of the Year as a freshman in 2016, Jalen Hurts climbed Alabama's all-time lists in his second season as a starter. With 40 touchdown passes and 21 rushing TDs, Hurts ranks second in Crimson Tide history for touchdown responsibility. He's also third in yards of total offense, fourth in TD passes and eighth in passing yards.
But it was quarterback Tua Tagovailoa who came off the bench at halftime of the CFP national-championship game with Alabama trailing Georgia 13-0 and led the Tide to a 26-23 overtime victory on Jan. 8. The freshman threw three touchdown passes, including a 41-yard game-ender to DeVonta Smith.
"How is the Alabama quarterback situation going to play out?" Maisel said, echoing the first question posed to him. "I don't know. (Alabama coach) Nick Saban's got to walk a tightrope, and he's pretty adept at doing it. He's got to keep both players happy, keep the locker room happy, keep everybody pulling in the same direction, and that's hard to do in that kind of situation. But at the end of the day, if everybody puts the team's success first rather than themselves, then it will work out whoever ends up playing -- both of them or one or the other. ...
"I think there'll be a starter, but I think it'll be fluid, because you've got to perform. Clearly, we know Jalen can perform over the long haul. We assume Tua can do it. We don't know. He had an electrifying couple of series when they need him and made a huge difference. We all assume that will apply itself over the course of the season, but we don't know that. What he did was spectacular, but he's got to do it all spring, which he wasn't able to do. So now he's got to do it all summer, do it all August and get to the game."
Matich said Alabama would be in a good spot regardless of which quarterback wins the job.
"The thing is I'm not quite as certain as some other people that Tua is going to be the guy," Matich said. "I'm pretty sure he'll be the guy. What I am certain of is whoever plays at that position, Alabama will have something they haven't had in a while, and that is a credible, exciting deep passing game, because with Dan Enos as the quarterback coach, he legitimately is the quarterback whisperer. If anybody can draw that aspect of the game out of Jalen Hurts, he can do it. But if Jalen Hurts doesn't improve enough at that, then Tua will be the guy. One way or the other, either a vastly improved Jalen Hurts is throwing downfield or Tua Tagovailoa.
"And the thing about that for defenses, you go back to the Georgia game in the national championship. In the first half, I was on the sideline watching that whole thing, and Georgia stacked the line, which is what everybody does against Alabama, right? And whenever that ball would leave Jalen Hurts' hand to go down the field, nobody on that Georgia sideline was too worried about it because they knew it probably wouldn't be a consistent threat to be a big play. When halftime came and Tua came in, everything changed. In the second half, when the ball left Tua's hand, everybody on that Georgia sideline held their breath because they knew there was a great likelihood that it would drop in for a big play.
"So now they're conflicted, right? Now if they keep guys up at the line to stop the run, they're going to get torched in the back end. If they drop people back to cover the deep pass, they'll get ground to a pulp at the line of scrimmage, and that balance is something Bama hasn't had at credible rate for a while. I think whoever starts at quarterback will be able to complete it down the field because Jalen will either get a lot better or Tua will be the guy, and defenses will be weeping and gnashing teeth."
Matich said Saban would handle the two-QB conundrum -- and whatever else confronts Alabama -- just fine.
"It's not a balancing act. It's on a solid foundation of bedrock," Matich said. "It's the talent that comes in. In addition to that is the way that he's able to get all these high school superstar divas to subordinate their will for the good of the team, and part of the way he does that is developing a culture of leaders in the locker room. There're alphas in that locker room most years, that if some little thing goes wrong -- if you don't prepare like you should in some small way; if you're late to class -- a lot of times that never gets to the level of the coaches' offices because someone like Jonathan Allen or Da'Ron Payne will take care of business. And that maximizes the talent that shows up. There's no end in sight for that. ...
"The only thing that will put a hiccup into that is other teams. Georgia took them to overtime, and that team is going to get only better with these recruiting classes. Auburn beat them last year, and Auburn is to a point now where they can get back to that challenge. Clemson, right now, is kind of Alabama from the standpoint of reloading at a national-championship level. So it's not a matter of Nick Saban not being able to continue at this pace, it's that there will be enough competition that a key injury or two, which happened at the linebacker position for them, which contributed to that Iron Bowl loss, or one team has a hot quarterback at the exact right moment and that game of inches can work against Alabama. So that's where the big challenge comes because Nick Saban hasn't slowed down, and I don't see him slowing down."
The current climate in college football makes losing a quarterback via transfer a consideration when two starting-level players are competing for the job.
"It's the nature of the beast," Maisel said. "I understand only one quarterback gets to play. I think it says something about the nature of the game right now that I don't really like. It wasn't that long ago that Florida State used to have a guy ready to go who was a third-year player, and he had been patient. When he got his chance, he was ready to go, he knew everything and he stepped right in. I guess nobody thinks that way anymore, which is really too bad because that was pretty effective."
Matich said if Hurts isn't Alabama's starting QB, he should consider a position change, which would help the Tide and his NFL prospects.
"I see quarterbacks transferring differently than other positions," Matich said. "If you're an offensive tackle and you get beat out, well, you can compete at guard, for example. Quarterback -- there's one, and that's it. We've seen a lot of examples of quarterbacks who have transferred and then gone on to the NFL from the school that they transferred to. So I can see that.
"From the standpoint of Jalen, he needs to be happy. If he wants to play quarterback and that's it, then transfer if he loses the job. It wouldn't bother me. He's given plenty to that university. I think he's earned the right. But I would like to see him, if he wants to go to the next level, switch positions.
The problem with switching positions at Bama is where? There are no reps at running back. There are few reps at linebacker. But what he can play now is H-back. Move around. Go out, catch passes. He's got offensive-line strength. He's got receiver speed. He can catch the ball down the field, and some poor little safety come over trying to tackle him -- that would be fun to watch. And he's strong enough to block well. He has a future in the NFL as an H-back. Tim Tebow would still be in the league if he had switched, and Eric Crouch, the Heisman winner from Nebraska a number of years ago, would have had a great future in the league as a safety. But he wanted to play quarterback, and it didn't work out. Tebow had success when he was there. But I think longevity, H-back would have been a position if he wanted to stay longer.
"The flip side of that, though, is I played at BYU with a guy named Steve Young. He came in to BYU from Connecticut as the sixth quarterback, and they wanted him to shift to safety. And he would have had an NFL future at safety. But he stuck to his guns and ended up being a Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL. So Jalen, I can't tell him not to play quarterback if he gets beat out, but I think his best chance at the next level would be H. And if he does get beat out, I think he could help that team right away at a different spot."
Both of the ESPNers think Alabama is in good shape to make a run at another national crown. Matich has them as his No. 1 team, with Clemson "a close No. 2." He predicted LSU and Mississippi State would be perhaps surprising challenges for Alabama in the SEC West.
"The things I'm most interested in seeing, I guess, is there somebody that can break up the Alabama-Clemson-Ohio State dance," Maisel said about the 2018 season. "It's always obvious in retrospect who it is. Right now, it's not obvious. I don't know who it'll be, frankly. There's so many people that lost so much. Oklahoma being one of them.
"Clemson looks like they're powerful. Alabama looks good. Georgia looks terrific. I like Georgia even as young as they are, and I would include them in that with Ohio State. I think it's a foursome."
Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com
ESPN analysts weigh in on Alabama's quarterback situation
Ivan Maisel and Trevor Matich were asked to assess Alabama's quarterback situation. The Crimson Tide has two well-regarded signal-callers returning from its 2017 CFP national-championship team.
The SEC Offensive Player of the Year as a freshman in 2016, Jalen Hurts climbed Alabama's all-time lists in his second season as a starter. With 40 touchdown passes and 21 rushing TDs, Hurts ranks second in Crimson Tide history for touchdown responsibility. He's also third in yards of total offense, fourth in TD passes and eighth in passing yards.
But it was quarterback Tua Tagovailoa who came off the bench at halftime of the CFP national-championship game with Alabama trailing Georgia 13-0 and led the Tide to a 26-23 overtime victory on Jan. 8. The freshman threw three touchdown passes, including a 41-yard game-ender to DeVonta Smith.
"How is the Alabama quarterback situation going to play out?" Maisel said, echoing the first question posed to him. "I don't know. (Alabama coach) Nick Saban's got to walk a tightrope, and he's pretty adept at doing it. He's got to keep both players happy, keep the locker room happy, keep everybody pulling in the same direction, and that's hard to do in that kind of situation. But at the end of the day, if everybody puts the team's success first rather than themselves, then it will work out whoever ends up playing -- both of them or one or the other. ...
"I think there'll be a starter, but I think it'll be fluid, because you've got to perform. Clearly, we know Jalen can perform over the long haul. We assume Tua can do it. We don't know. He had an electrifying couple of series when they need him and made a huge difference. We all assume that will apply itself over the course of the season, but we don't know that. What he did was spectacular, but he's got to do it all spring, which he wasn't able to do. So now he's got to do it all summer, do it all August and get to the game."
Matich said Alabama would be in a good spot regardless of which quarterback wins the job.
"The thing is I'm not quite as certain as some other people that Tua is going to be the guy," Matich said. "I'm pretty sure he'll be the guy. What I am certain of is whoever plays at that position, Alabama will have something they haven't had in a while, and that is a credible, exciting deep passing game, because with Dan Enos as the quarterback coach, he legitimately is the quarterback whisperer. If anybody can draw that aspect of the game out of Jalen Hurts, he can do it. But if Jalen Hurts doesn't improve enough at that, then Tua will be the guy. One way or the other, either a vastly improved Jalen Hurts is throwing downfield or Tua Tagovailoa.
"And the thing about that for defenses, you go back to the Georgia game in the national championship. In the first half, I was on the sideline watching that whole thing, and Georgia stacked the line, which is what everybody does against Alabama, right? And whenever that ball would leave Jalen Hurts' hand to go down the field, nobody on that Georgia sideline was too worried about it because they knew it probably wouldn't be a consistent threat to be a big play. When halftime came and Tua came in, everything changed. In the second half, when the ball left Tua's hand, everybody on that Georgia sideline held their breath because they knew there was a great likelihood that it would drop in for a big play.
"So now they're conflicted, right? Now if they keep guys up at the line to stop the run, they're going to get torched in the back end. If they drop people back to cover the deep pass, they'll get ground to a pulp at the line of scrimmage, and that balance is something Bama hasn't had at credible rate for a while. I think whoever starts at quarterback will be able to complete it down the field because Jalen will either get a lot better or Tua will be the guy, and defenses will be weeping and gnashing teeth."
Matich said Saban would handle the two-QB conundrum -- and whatever else confronts Alabama -- just fine.
"It's not a balancing act. It's on a solid foundation of bedrock," Matich said. "It's the talent that comes in. In addition to that is the way that he's able to get all these high school superstar divas to subordinate their will for the good of the team, and part of the way he does that is developing a culture of leaders in the locker room. There're alphas in that locker room most years, that if some little thing goes wrong -- if you don't prepare like you should in some small way; if you're late to class -- a lot of times that never gets to the level of the coaches' offices because someone like Jonathan Allen or Da'Ron Payne will take care of business. And that maximizes the talent that shows up. There's no end in sight for that. ...
"The only thing that will put a hiccup into that is other teams. Georgia took them to overtime, and that team is going to get only better with these recruiting classes. Auburn beat them last year, and Auburn is to a point now where they can get back to that challenge. Clemson, right now, is kind of Alabama from the standpoint of reloading at a national-championship level. So it's not a matter of Nick Saban not being able to continue at this pace, it's that there will be enough competition that a key injury or two, which happened at the linebacker position for them, which contributed to that Iron Bowl loss, or one team has a hot quarterback at the exact right moment and that game of inches can work against Alabama. So that's where the big challenge comes because Nick Saban hasn't slowed down, and I don't see him slowing down."
The current climate in college football makes losing a quarterback via transfer a consideration when two starting-level players are competing for the job.
"It's the nature of the beast," Maisel said. "I understand only one quarterback gets to play. I think it says something about the nature of the game right now that I don't really like. It wasn't that long ago that Florida State used to have a guy ready to go who was a third-year player, and he had been patient. When he got his chance, he was ready to go, he knew everything and he stepped right in. I guess nobody thinks that way anymore, which is really too bad because that was pretty effective."
Matich said if Hurts isn't Alabama's starting QB, he should consider a position change, which would help the Tide and his NFL prospects.
"I see quarterbacks transferring differently than other positions," Matich said. "If you're an offensive tackle and you get beat out, well, you can compete at guard, for example. Quarterback -- there's one, and that's it. We've seen a lot of examples of quarterbacks who have transferred and then gone on to the NFL from the school that they transferred to. So I can see that.
"From the standpoint of Jalen, he needs to be happy. If he wants to play quarterback and that's it, then transfer if he loses the job. It wouldn't bother me. He's given plenty to that university. I think he's earned the right. But I would like to see him, if he wants to go to the next level, switch positions.
The problem with switching positions at Bama is where? There are no reps at running back. There are few reps at linebacker. But what he can play now is H-back. Move around. Go out, catch passes. He's got offensive-line strength. He's got receiver speed. He can catch the ball down the field, and some poor little safety come over trying to tackle him -- that would be fun to watch. And he's strong enough to block well. He has a future in the NFL as an H-back. Tim Tebow would still be in the league if he had switched, and Eric Crouch, the Heisman winner from Nebraska a number of years ago, would have had a great future in the league as a safety. But he wanted to play quarterback, and it didn't work out. Tebow had success when he was there. But I think longevity, H-back would have been a position if he wanted to stay longer.
"The flip side of that, though, is I played at BYU with a guy named Steve Young. He came in to BYU from Connecticut as the sixth quarterback, and they wanted him to shift to safety. And he would have had an NFL future at safety. But he stuck to his guns and ended up being a Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL. So Jalen, I can't tell him not to play quarterback if he gets beat out, but I think his best chance at the next level would be H. And if he does get beat out, I think he could help that team right away at a different spot."
Both of the ESPNers think Alabama is in good shape to make a run at another national crown. Matich has them as his No. 1 team, with Clemson "a close No. 2." He predicted LSU and Mississippi State would be perhaps surprising challenges for Alabama in the SEC West.
"The things I'm most interested in seeing, I guess, is there somebody that can break up the Alabama-Clemson-Ohio State dance," Maisel said about the 2018 season. "It's always obvious in retrospect who it is. Right now, it's not obvious. I don't know who it'll be, frankly. There's so many people that lost so much. Oklahoma being one of them.
"Clemson looks like they're powerful. Alabama looks good. Georgia looks terrific. I like Georgia even as young as they are, and I would include them in that with Ohio State. I think it's a foursome."
Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com
ESPN analysts weigh in on Alabama's quarterback situation
