BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Nobody's closer to the quarterback than Ryan Kelly.
The Alabama center delivers every snap so you'd figure he'd have the inside angle on who'd be throwing the passes on Saturdays this fall.
"You don't know who is going to be in there. Game 1, I don't know," he said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. "You don't know. We don't know."
Nobody knows.
As Alabama gears up to start preseason camp in early August, the quarterback competition appears unchanged through summer workouts. When addressing the issue, coach Nick Sabandidn't reference any quarterback by name until asked specifics.
"I know you're anxious to ask me about the quarterback situation," he said, "but that's going to be one of the keys to the drill in terms of somebody taking the bull by the horns at that position, being assertive, playing with confidence, distributing the ball and executing in a positive way, being a good decision-maker, and showing leadership at the same time."
Saban delivered practically the same quote April 11 after a late-spring scrimmage in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The two top contenders appear to be the same.
Senior Jake Coker was the first-team starter on A-Day and runner up to Blake Simsin last year's competition. Redshirt freshman David Cornwell came on strong in the spring as the second top contender. Alec Morris and Cooper Bateman have both been in the program a few years but neither have thrown a collegiate pass. And scholarship quarterback No. 5 is Blake Barnett, a true freshman who entered in January as a five-star recruit with raw talent.
Saban said Morris is "a bright guy" while calling Bateman the most athletic of the group. Barnett "has great promise" with the ability to run with a strong arm, but needs time to mature within the program.
So does Kelly handicap the race in his head?
"No, I don't know. I was the same way last year," the senior center said. "I didn't know. Half the time I'd have Blake in there and half the time I'd have Jake. So I don't know. One thing I know is I've had reps with every single quarterback, so no matter who it ends up being, we've built a relationship already, which is huge between the center and the quarterback. For me, that's the biggest thing, building relationships with those guys because I don't know who's going to be in the game."
The mystery was just as thick a year ago. In fact, the Sims/Coker competition wasn't settled until the second scrimmage of August when one separated from the other.
Coker has a full year in Alabama's program now, but the Cornwell arrived a semester earlier than the Florida State transfer. Coker also appears to be more reserved than his younger competition, but that didn't seem to bother running back Kenyan Drake.
"He's not the most out-spoken person," Drake said, "but he's leading by example and I'm looking forward to the rest of the competition as it progresses."
Saban said Coker's been "outstanding" and has "made a tremendous amount of improvement" in the past year.
But the competition continues.
"Jake might be older, but they both came in at the same time so they both learned the system at the same time so they learned the system at the same time," Drake said. "So you can't really decipher between either one because all of our quarterbacks have the same experience."
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The Alabama center delivers every snap so you'd figure he'd have the inside angle on who'd be throwing the passes on Saturdays this fall.
"You don't know who is going to be in there. Game 1, I don't know," he said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. "You don't know. We don't know."
Nobody knows.
As Alabama gears up to start preseason camp in early August, the quarterback competition appears unchanged through summer workouts. When addressing the issue, coach Nick Sabandidn't reference any quarterback by name until asked specifics.
"I know you're anxious to ask me about the quarterback situation," he said, "but that's going to be one of the keys to the drill in terms of somebody taking the bull by the horns at that position, being assertive, playing with confidence, distributing the ball and executing in a positive way, being a good decision-maker, and showing leadership at the same time."
Saban delivered practically the same quote April 11 after a late-spring scrimmage in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The two top contenders appear to be the same.
Senior Jake Coker was the first-team starter on A-Day and runner up to Blake Simsin last year's competition. Redshirt freshman David Cornwell came on strong in the spring as the second top contender. Alec Morris and Cooper Bateman have both been in the program a few years but neither have thrown a collegiate pass. And scholarship quarterback No. 5 is Blake Barnett, a true freshman who entered in January as a five-star recruit with raw talent.
Saban said Morris is "a bright guy" while calling Bateman the most athletic of the group. Barnett "has great promise" with the ability to run with a strong arm, but needs time to mature within the program.
So does Kelly handicap the race in his head?
"No, I don't know. I was the same way last year," the senior center said. "I didn't know. Half the time I'd have Blake in there and half the time I'd have Jake. So I don't know. One thing I know is I've had reps with every single quarterback, so no matter who it ends up being, we've built a relationship already, which is huge between the center and the quarterback. For me, that's the biggest thing, building relationships with those guys because I don't know who's going to be in the game."
The mystery was just as thick a year ago. In fact, the Sims/Coker competition wasn't settled until the second scrimmage of August when one separated from the other.
Coker has a full year in Alabama's program now, but the Cornwell arrived a semester earlier than the Florida State transfer. Coker also appears to be more reserved than his younger competition, but that didn't seem to bother running back Kenyan Drake.
"He's not the most out-spoken person," Drake said, "but he's leading by example and I'm looking forward to the rest of the competition as it progresses."
Saban said Coker's been "outstanding" and has "made a tremendous amount of improvement" in the past year.
But the competition continues.
"Jake might be older, but they both came in at the same time so they both learned the system at the same time so they learned the system at the same time," Drake said. "So you can't really decipher between either one because all of our quarterbacks have the same experience."
Continue reading...
