📡 How Nick Saban described Alabama's unique QB situation

[Michael Casagrande |]

If there were questions about Jalen Hurts' place in Alabama's offense, Nick Saban put it to rest Tuesday evening.

Asked about the Crimson Tide's quarterback situation after the first spring practice, Saban touched on the experience that returns from 2016. He started with Hurts, the reigning SEC offensive player of the year, then mentioned the two true freshmen who entered the mix.

"The other two guys who are freshmen, they're going to have to grow into being adequate backups by the fall," Saban said. "This is the least amount of experience we've ever had at quarterback, regardless of having a starter back. But I like all the guys, I like their attitude and I think they all three have a lot of potential to really be good players."

Those two freshmen -- Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones -- completed their first college practice when the spring schedule began Tuesday. Of course, Hurts was in their exact position this time a year ago only to win the starting job by September.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said it was wrong to assume Alabama is going to adopt a ball-control offense after the Crimson Tide's loss to Clemson in the national championship game during a fiery rant Tuesday.

The difference is Hurts is the first returning starter since AJ McCarron in 2013. His rise to the starting job led to the transfers of Blake Barnett, Cooper Bateman and David Cornwell.

So, instead of a competition for the starting job, there's a new challenge with a different quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator in Brian Daboll.

"Well, we have one year of experience - all of our quarterbacks combined," Saban said. "So that's more of a dynamic than having the starting quarterback back."

That's true.

But unlike the one-year tenures of Blake Sims and Jake Coker, Hurts will have a chance to build on his maiden campaign with a subsequent spring practice.

"I think that because we do have a starting quarterback coming back, it's easier for us to self-assess what we need to do for him, with him, to help him, to coach him so that he can develop in areas that would be helpful to him becoming even more of a complete player - mostly in the passing game," Saban said. "That's something that we're going to work hard on in the spring and also in fall. If he could do that and be sort of a dual-threat guy, I think it would be really, really difficult for defenses to defend him."

Tagovailoa arrived in January as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2016 signing class. He was quick to downplay any speculation about a competition brewing with Hurts.

"Oh yeah. I mean, (he was) amazing," Tagovailoa on signing day Feb. 1. "He won offensive player of the year for the SEC. Just a lot of the intangibles that this guy has, some aren't even coachable. So, I think he's a great player. He's a better person off the field than what he does on the field."

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[By Alex Byington Sports]

Saban affirms Hurts' role as No. 1 QB, looks for progress as a passer

TUSCALOOSA — For the first time since 2013, Alabama will feature a quarterback with significant starting experience.

Not since A.J. McCarron roamed the sideline has the Crimson Tide had the luxury of having the same starting signal caller in consecutive years.

That quarterback is rising sophomore Jalen Hurts, who returns after splashing onto the scene as a dual-threat 18-year-old last season and leading Alabama to within one second of winning a second consecutive College Football Playoff national championship.


Never fazed by the big stage, Hurts finished with 3,734 yards of total offense and a program-record 36 touchdowns last season. That production ranked him among the Crimson Tide’s all-time greats at the position, and already has Hurts among the preseason favorites for the Heisman Trophy.

Coach Nick Saban is happy to have Hurts back, but he is concerned about depth after both of last season’s backups — Cooper Bateman (Utah) and David Cornwell (Nevada) — transferred.

“Well, we have one year of experience — all of our quarterbacks combined,” Saban said. “So that’s more of a dynamic than having the starting quarterback back.”

Alabama’s quarterback group hit the field for the first time Tuesday afternoon when the Crimson Tide kicked off the first of 15 spring practices scheduled over the next month.

Along with Hurts, that group included five-star recruit Tua Tagovailoa, the nation’s top-rated dual-threat signal caller in the 2017 class, and four-star Mac Jones, who represents more of a pro-style option at the position.

As the Tide quarterbacks went through individual passing drills, Hurts took the first reps, followed by Tagovailoa and Jones, while walk-on Montana Murphy brought up the rear.

While not explicitly calling Hurts — the reigning Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year — the team’s unquestioned starter, Saban made it clear in his comments this week that the two early enrollees are competing among themselves to serve as “adequate backups.”

“The other two guys — who are freshmen — they’re going to have to grow into being adequate backups by the fall,” Saban said. “This is the least amount of experience we’ve ever had at quarterback, regardless of having a starter back. But I like all the guys. I like their attitude, and I think they all three have a lot of potential to really be good players.”

To his credit, Tagovailoa handled questions about competing with Hurts with grace, expressing little interest in engaging in a position battle.


"I'm not trying to worry about any of that. I'm just going to try and do what I do and let the other guys do what they've got to do,” Tagovailoa said last month. “We're just trying to move as one, move as a team, and I'm not trying to dog on anyone on my team or my teammates. This is my new team, this is my new family. Like I said, I'm still trying to find myself in school, and I'm just going to focus on that."

Hurts realizes he's not a finished product, and both he and Saban have acknowledged a need for improvement, especially as a passer.

Despite some eye-popping stats as a freshman, Hurts struggled with accuracy in the postseason, where he managed a combined 326 yards and two touchdowns on 47.7-percent passing (31-of-65) against three of the nation’s Top 15 pass defenses. Hurts' postseason completion percentage was nearly 20 points lower than the 66-percent clip he posted during the regular season.

“I think that because we do have a starting quarterback coming back, it’s easier for us to self-assess what we need to do for him, with him, to help him,” Saban said, “to coach him so that he can develop in areas that would be helpful to him becoming even more of a complete player, (but) mostly in the passing game.”

Hurts’ evolution as a more accurate and efficient passer is of the utmost importance this spring.

“That’s something that we’re going to work hard on in the spring and also in fall,” Saban said. “If he could do that and be sort of a dual-threat guy, I think it would be really, really difficult for defenses to defend him.”


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