🏈 Jalen after A-Day

[ChemE]

I may bashed for this, since A-Day is not the standard for measuring a player or team, but...
1. He went 6-14 in the 1st Half today for 32 yards. By any measure, that's poor. His body language was not that of a raw competitor.
2. He's still too fast to pull down the ball if he doesn't find his first receiver. Which brings me to...
3. He's still not showing the ability to progress through reads and find the open receiver. He usually locks in on 1 receiver (Ridley last year) and either a) throws to him, or b) pulls it down to run. He had one more rushing attempt than Najee for less yards. That is not our offensive plan.
4. He completely ignores the left side of the field much of the time. Doesn't even look over there. Think about it, when he completes a pass it's to the right side. If he pulls it down and runs, it's to the right side.
5. In a black jersey and knowing he couldn't be hit, he still showed no poise in the pocket. This scrimmage was set up for him to shine.
6. In the 2nd Half he did better, but several of the balls he completed he threw off his back foot and did not hit his man in stride often.
7. Think about the last 3 games. A) Auburn-loss, and had the worst rating of any QB in the Saban era. B) Clemson-Game largely won by the defense. C) Georgia-we all know what happened: shut out in the 1st half and Tua saved the day and the season.
BOTTOM LINE: He's a tremendous athlete and a classy kid. He would be a pretty good QB in a run-first read-option offense. But it's too late to change now. If he stays for the Fall, when he's in there I'll be cheering for him. But Tua is better in my opinion.
I love the kid and wish him the best. But we're playing with one hand tied behind our backs with him at QB. I am thankful for all he has done for our team, but it may be all he has.
All those short passes. All those tuck and scrambles. It's painful to watch. And honestly, I feel sad for him.

 

[ComeOnSon]

I may bashed for this, since A-Day is not the standard for measuring a player or team, but...
1. He went 6-14 in the 1st Half today for 32 yards. By any measure, that's poor. His body language was not that of a raw competitor.
2. He's still too fast to pull down the ball if he doesn't find his first receiver. Which brings me to...
3. He's still not showing the ability to progress through reads and find the open receiver. He usually locks in on 1 receiver (Ridley last year) and either a) throws to him, or b) pulls it down to run. He had one more rushing attempt than Najee for less yards. That is not our offensive plan.
4. He completely ignores the left side of the field much of the time. Doesn't even look over there. Think about it, when he completes a pass it's to the right side. If he pulls it down and runs, it's to the right side.
5. In a black jersey and knowing he couldn't be hit, he still showed no poise in the pocket. This scrimmage was set up for him to shine.
6. In the 2nd Half he did better, but several of the balls he completed he threw off his back foot and did not hit his man in stride often.
7. Think about the last 3 games. A) Auburn-loss, and had the worst rating of any QB in the Saban era. B) Clemson-Game largely won by the defense. C) Georgia-we all know what happened: shut out in the 1st half and Tua saved the day and the season.
BOTTOM LINE: He's a tremendous athlete and a classy kid. He would be a pretty good QB in a run-first read-option offense. But it's too late to change now. If he stays for the Fall, when he's in there I'll be cheering for him. But Tua is better in my opinion.
I love the kid and wish him the best. But we're playing with one hand tied behind our backs with him at QB. I am thankful for all he has done for our team, but it may be all he has.
All those short passes. All those tuck and scrambles. It's painful to watch. And honestly, I feel sad for him.

Agreed. I’m thankful for all he’s done and I think he’s been a great representative of the university, but I’ve felt since year one he was an athlete playing the quarterback position. It almost seemed like he was a stop gap because there was nobody else on campus that could play the position any better. Now there is.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

I bet Coach Bryant would have loved for #2 to taken over the QB spot in 1980 once Steadman graduated. Jalen is an electric runner and just below average passer. I do believe he will go ahead and transfer once this school year is complete. Best of luck to him and his family.

I am much more concerned about the punter than Jalen leaving. I hope Nick and staff have a walk-on punter coming this fall.

 

[mando]

Jalen is an elite athlete. He will help any team win a ton of games and has done so for Bama. He has a tremendous upside with his athleticism and intangibles. I for one love the kid and want to give him some credit as a play maker. Yes he has some major challenges as a passer but if Jalen or Tua are in the game we can win most games. It is the one or two games everyone is concerned about and I get that. Not sure I said much with this post but a lot of people are down on Jalen and he is hearing a lot of negativity. I just want to acknowledge what abilities he does bring to the table which pretty darn good.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

There was a time when playing two QB's was normal at Bama under Coach Bryant....Steve Sloan played with Joe Willie...Snake played with Steve Sloan, Richard Todd played with Gary Rutledge but in those days JMO players weren't selfish. If both QB's had the Right Attitude then have change of pace guy to come off the bench would really make playing and planning to play this Bama team a difficult task.

 

[#80]

I don't know what his aspirations are like playing in the NFL if so they need to find a position for him. He has had plenty of time to develop and that has not happened. Great kid and athlete I appreciate all he has done for us.

 

[tide92]

I agree with you #80. If his long term goal is to play in the NFL, then his daddy needs to take off the parent blinders and look at him objectively as a coach. He has great talent, but a qb he is not. Change positions, then go to the NFL and get paid if the NFL is your dream.

 

[bradenob]

Jalen is an elite athlete. He will help any team win a ton of games and has done so for Bama. He has a tremendous upside with his athleticism and intangibles. I for one love the kid and want to give him some credit as a play maker. Yes he has some major challenges as a passer but if Jalen or Tua are in the game we can win most games. It is the one or two games everyone is concerned about and I get that. Not sure I said much with this post but a lot of people are down on Jalen and he is hearing a lot of negativity. I just want to acknowledge what abilities he does bring to the table which pretty darn good.

No. I agree with what you said. And I do think that we could win Basically every game until the Auburn game, or, Lord willing, the SEC Championship game with what should be Georgia. But against a talented defense that can shut down the running game and make him pass to beat us, it would be a dang dog fight!

And what is more, I agree with other posters. Jaylen apparently does not have a future as an NFL quarterback. As such, in appreciation for his leadership, class, talent, and all he has done for the University and the football team, I would love to see him go ahead and move to another position. Think about it. He could move to running back or Hback and[BGCOLOR=transparent] still be our second string quarterback. He is incredibly fast and incredibly strong. He could use this year as a transition year and next year finish honing his skills in a new position and be highly drafted and go on to a successful pro career.[/BGCOLOR]

 

[ChemE]

Games with the Alabama QB threw for 55% or less completion percentage:
2008 - JPW (6)
2009 - GMac (6)
2010 - GMac (0)
2011 - AJ (0)
2012 - AJ (2)
2013 - AJ (1)
2014 - BS6 (2)
2015 - Jake (2)
2016 - JH (5)
2017 - JH (6)

 

[TerryP]

Games with the Alabama QB threw for 55% or less completion percentage:

2016 - JH (5)
2017 - JH (6)

I saw this earlier. The guy that put that together...where did he grab the numbers? I get his point, but he's comparing a total of 8 and 11.

 

[TerryP]

Games with the Alabama QB threw for 55% or less completion percentage:
2009 - GMac (6)

His number isn't right either. It's five (and two of those are 54.5 percent which makes me wonder why 55%?)

Greg finished '09 with around a 60% which put him in the top third in the nation.

 

[PhillyGirl]

I have faith that Saban will find the best solution for Tua as well as Jalen, that also gives the team the best chances of winning.

Trust the process .. (that's the Sixers fan in me talking).

 

[BamaFan334]

A lot of negativity towards Jalen. I understand if you feel he hasn't progressed, but give the kid a freaking break. He didn't say anything about transferring, his daddy did, and some of y'all are cussing him off into the sunset and jumping his ass. To be honest, we could all only hope for a son like Jalen whom is one of the best ambassadors for our university that I have seen. He is a selfless guy that was right there for Tua when he was replaced. I think most of y'all are treating him as if he said what his dad said, and that may not be how he is feeling.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see he has won us more games that he has lost us. Sure, we have talent all around him on both sides of the ball that have helped, but it's a team freaking game where you expect that help. Hurts has been more positive than negative. Now, to spoiled Alabama fans, nothing is never enough. Just look at our basketball program and how some kept calling our team sorry, yet we make it to the second round of the tournament, only to still be called "not a great team" by some. Well, from where we were, I consider that a success. If you don't like Hurts, that's fine, but continuing to bash the guy just doesn't make a ton of sense. Saban will do what needs to be done. He hates losing as much as any of us. The dude knows what the fuck he's doing, trust me on that.

 

[BamafanaticE]

Well said:agree:h/t

 

[94 Grad]

Games with the Alabama QB threw for 55% or less completion percentage:
2008 - JPW (6)
2009 - GMac (6)
2010 - GMac (0)
2011 - AJ (0)
2012 - AJ (2)
2013 - AJ (1)
2014 - BS6 (2)
2015 - Jake (2)
2016 - JH (5)
2017 - JH (6)

And to be honest, it's not like Tua light it up in his half at the NCgame... he was 14 of 24 with an INT and took a critical sack in OT. Not saying he didn't play well since he didn't get the reps all year and came in cold for the 2nd half, but it's not like he threw for 75% and shredded UGA...

Personally, I think you'll see Jalen as the starter for game one with a short leash if he can't pass the ball effectively. I think Saban really does take the safety of the ball into HUGE consideration and on that front Jalen has show he doesn't often turn the ball over. I also think Saban knows that to win NC we will need to be able to pass the ball and the only way to get Tua able to make good decisions is to give him playing time... if Jalen doesn't show good efficiency passing, I don't think it'll be long before you see Tua starting...

Just my 2 cents... grains of salt everywhere ;

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

The opposing defensive coaches have caught up with what Jalen does well and they scheme to stop anything he does really well. Bama can beat most of the teams on the schedule with Jalen running the show but will run into the better teams that have the talent on defense to make it so difficult for the Bama offense to have success. I will be very surprised if Jalen is at Bama at that the end of May.

 

[94 Grad]

The opposing defensive coaches have caught up with what Jalen does well and they scheme to stop anything he does really well. Bama can beat most of the teams on the schedule with Jalen running the show but will run into the better teams that have the talent on defense to make it so difficult for the Bama offense to have success. I will be very surprised if Jalen is at Bama at that the end of May.

Jalen will stay through the end of the year IMO... He can stay here and graduate and transfer next year. The only advantage to leaving in May would be to preserve a year (he would sit next year as a redshirt year and then still have 2 years to play). If he stays this year odds are he's not redshirting it as we are limited in QBs and would get some playing time...so he'd only have 1 year of eligibility left if he transferred at years end.

Opposing defenses will look at Tua and see what he does best and try to take that away too... I think he's much more prone to make mistakes than Jalen, so it just depends on how much Saban values not making mistakes vs the ability to pass the ball efficiently... Just listening to Saban talk, I think you can tell he's still leaning Jalen because of ball security but also understand to win NC's you're going to need to be effective passing the ball.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Opposing defenses will look at Tua and see what he does best and try to take that away too... I think he's much more prone to make mistakes than Jalen, so it just depends on how much Saban values not making mistakes vs the ability to pass the ball efficiently... Just listening to Saban talk, I think you can tell he's still leaning Jalen because of ball security but also understand to win NC's you're going to need to be effective passing the ball.

If you refuse to throw the football unless your WRs are wide open or chose to make one read and take off wouldn't your degree of passing difficulty decrease immensely? Jalen threw the football for a hair more than 2000 yards last season. That is 700 yards less than the year before. Jalen threw for 112 yards vs the barn, 120 yards vs Clemson and 21 yards vs Georgia.

You are still poorly framing the argument at this point. With Jalen, the issue isn't turnovers, the issue is passing production against the best defenses in the nation.

 

[BamaFan334]

Opposing defenses will look at Tua and see what he does best and try to take that away too... I think he's much more prone to make mistakes than Jalen, so it just depends on how much Saban values not making mistakes vs the ability to pass the ball efficiently... Just listening to Saban talk, I think you can tell he's still leaning Jalen because of ball security but also understand to win NC's you're going to need to be effective passing the ball.

If you refuse to throw the football unless your WRs are wide open or chose to make one read and take off wouldn't your degree of passing difficulty decrease immensely? Jalen threw the football for a hair more than 2000 yards last season. That is 700 yards less than the year before. Jalen threw for 112 yards vs the barn, 120 yards vs Clemson and 21 yards vs Georgia.

You are still poorly framing the argument at this point. With Jalen, the issue isn't turnovers, the issue is passing production against the best defenses in the nation.

Let's see, you're calling his argument poor, yet the one you put out there isn't very promising either. So he threw and rush for more yards in 2016, but he also turned it over more, and we lost the National Championship. He had fewer yards in 2017, turned it over eight less times, and the team won a National Championship. I'm not saying he's the best quarterback we've ever had, but telling someone they framed their argument poorly when you did the same doesn't make a ton of sense. He was more efficient, while throwing 2% less accurate, yet rating higher as a passer. He also ran the ball for a slightly higher clip in 2017. Defenses were surprisingly similar with 2016 giving up more passing yards and 2017 giving up more rushing yards, so no one necessarily tipping the scales there. Once again, I am in agreement we would like to see more production with as much talent as we have and could get at the quarterback position, but Hurts is not killing our ability to win. I can see both sides of the argument, but the stats aren't necessarily showing he is an ineffective player for us.

 

[TUSKtimes]

So he threw and rush for more yards in 2016, but he also turned it over more, and we lost the National Championship. He had fewer yards in 2017, turned it over eight less times, and the team won a National Championship.

I would have to be blind and illiterate to not ask what the point here is, other than to verify my argument that it's the big games against the big teams that shut Jalen down. Jalen didn't win the Georgia game, he got replaced after throwing for 21 yards in the first half. That didn't win the natty and it won't this year either.

I'm not saying he's the best quarterback we've ever had, but telling someone they framed their argument poorly when you did the same doesn't make a ton of sense.

A lack of pass production against the big boys is and was my argument. Maybe it's just you?