Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
For much of the summer, and into the first few weeks of Alabama's preseason practice, the Florida game was referred to as the juncture at which we would "know something," about the Crimson Tide's quarterback situation. Nick Saban never imposed that deadline, and still hasn't. But one wonders if this game, or any game, will really settle anything about the endless quarterback competition.
Through three games, Blake Sims could not have done anything more to show he deserves the job. He has won. He has passed accurately - not perfectly, but with numbers that measure up to anyone else in the NCAA. He has made plays on designed runs and scrambles, bringing an added element to the offense.
"Hasn't played anybody," the critics whisper. "Wait until the SEC."
Maybe Sims will struggle against Florida. The response will be "I told you so." Maybe he will play well. "Wait until he goes on the road," will be the answer. There won't be an end until the BCS Championship, or an Alabama loss. A cottage industry has arisen around hashing and rehashing the Alabama quarterback situation, and in the current economic climate, no one is shutting down a cottage industry.
To be fair, there has been plenty of pro-Sims analysis as well, with Andre Ware leading the charge. My only question is when, if ever, will the debate end? The Hundred Years' War showed more signs of impending closure with 50 years to go.
There are some people who think Nick Saban could end the talk with a vehement show of support. Saban does have the argument-terminating sternly worded sentence in his arsenal of rhetorical weapons. He did not unleash it on Wednesday. Instead, he went low-key, saying UA would start Sims "and see how it goes."
The instant reaction among at least some of the media was to go straight to headlines saying, "Sims To Start," even though that hasn't been a mystery for weeks. There is almost always more subtlety than that in a Saban press conference, but it gets lost as he is reduced into sound bytes and 140-character tweets (and I am as guilty as anyone of that.) I did not take his Wednesday comments as an announcement, or as an unenthusiastic reaction to Sims.
First, Saban is at his limit for quarterback questions of any kind. Second, if there was news to be gleaned from what Saban said, it was not just about Sims. While he expressed the requisite confidence in putting Jake Coker in the game "if the situation calls for it," this seemed to be the first time that there is no definite plan to use Coker at all."
Beyond that, Saban was so disinclined to further the discussion that he diverted the focus to the offense as a whole, talking about the importance of knowing assignments and not calling plays that are unlikely to be successful because "we haven't had time to work on them yet."
Saban was a bit more upbeat on the Sims front on his weekly radio show, noting that Sims had "surprised a lot of people" with his play.
Will that be the final word? Not at all. Not even if Alabama wins - and certainly not with an opposite outcome.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1683159
TideSports.com Columnist
For much of the summer, and into the first few weeks of Alabama's preseason practice, the Florida game was referred to as the juncture at which we would "know something," about the Crimson Tide's quarterback situation. Nick Saban never imposed that deadline, and still hasn't. But one wonders if this game, or any game, will really settle anything about the endless quarterback competition.
Through three games, Blake Sims could not have done anything more to show he deserves the job. He has won. He has passed accurately - not perfectly, but with numbers that measure up to anyone else in the NCAA. He has made plays on designed runs and scrambles, bringing an added element to the offense.
"Hasn't played anybody," the critics whisper. "Wait until the SEC."
Maybe Sims will struggle against Florida. The response will be "I told you so." Maybe he will play well. "Wait until he goes on the road," will be the answer. There won't be an end until the BCS Championship, or an Alabama loss. A cottage industry has arisen around hashing and rehashing the Alabama quarterback situation, and in the current economic climate, no one is shutting down a cottage industry.
To be fair, there has been plenty of pro-Sims analysis as well, with Andre Ware leading the charge. My only question is when, if ever, will the debate end? The Hundred Years' War showed more signs of impending closure with 50 years to go.
There are some people who think Nick Saban could end the talk with a vehement show of support. Saban does have the argument-terminating sternly worded sentence in his arsenal of rhetorical weapons. He did not unleash it on Wednesday. Instead, he went low-key, saying UA would start Sims "and see how it goes."
The instant reaction among at least some of the media was to go straight to headlines saying, "Sims To Start," even though that hasn't been a mystery for weeks. There is almost always more subtlety than that in a Saban press conference, but it gets lost as he is reduced into sound bytes and 140-character tweets (and I am as guilty as anyone of that.) I did not take his Wednesday comments as an announcement, or as an unenthusiastic reaction to Sims.
First, Saban is at his limit for quarterback questions of any kind. Second, if there was news to be gleaned from what Saban said, it was not just about Sims. While he expressed the requisite confidence in putting Jake Coker in the game "if the situation calls for it," this seemed to be the first time that there is no definite plan to use Coker at all."
Beyond that, Saban was so disinclined to further the discussion that he diverted the focus to the offense as a whole, talking about the importance of knowing assignments and not calling plays that are unlikely to be successful because "we haven't had time to work on them yet."
Saban was a bit more upbeat on the Sims front on his weekly radio show, noting that Sims had "surprised a lot of people" with his play.
Will that be the final word? Not at all. Not even if Alabama wins - and certainly not with an opposite outcome.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1683159
