TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Unlike last season, Alabama isn’t expected to have any drama behind center heading into its matchup against South Florida.

Around this time last year, the Crimson Tide made an unexpected switch at the quarterback position, benching starter Jalen Milroe for Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner ahead of the Week 3 matchup against South Florida. That decision came after Milroe threw a pair of costly interceptions during the Tide’s Week 2 loss to Texas.

Buchner struggled against the Bulls, failing to lead the Tide to scores on any of its first five drives while completing 5 of 14 passes for just 34 yards. Ty Simpson eventually came off the bench to lead Alabama to an ugly 17-0 win. However, the backup was hardly convincing, taking five sacks while completing 5 of 9 passes for 73 yards with a 1-yard touchdown run to put the game away in the final minute.

While Alabama secured the win, Milroe retained his starting job the following week against Ole Miss. The rest is history, as Milroe turned around his performance while jumpstarting the Tide’s offense to an eventual playoff run.

The situation is different heading into Saturday’s game against South Florida. Milroe is coming off a five-touchdown performance during Alabama’s season-opening win over Western Kentucky last weekend and is in no jeopardy of losing his starting job.

Still, with last year’s midseason quarterback crisis fresh on the minds this week, now’s as good a time as any to check up on the Tide’s options behind Milroe.

Alabama used three quarterbacks during its 63-0 victory over Western Kentucky last weekend. After Milroe left the game late in the third quarter, Simpson led the Tide on three drives before giving way to Dylan Lonergan to close out the game.

Simpson was solid, leading the Tide to touchdowns on two of his three drives. The redshirt sophomore completed 5 of 9 passes for 66 yards and added 32 yards on a pair of carries, including a 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Simpson was 2-for-2 on passe that traveled 10-19 yards past the line of scrimmage. That included a nice strike to Kobe Prentice that saw the quarterback evade pressure to his right before finding the receiver for a 20-yard gain on his first pass of the game. Simpson’s numbers could have also been better if not for a pair of drops on shorter passes.

Lonergan did not attempt a pass but did pick up 16 yards on a third-and-6 scramble. That helped extend Alabama’s final drive, which lasted 13 plays and chewed up the final 8:39 on the clock.

“I thought they were clean,” Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said of the Tide’s backup quarterbacks. “I thought they communicated well, by and large made the right decisions. There’s a couple that we’d like to learn from. But that was the first experience for me with all the guys in our room as far as seeing them compete and being out on the grass in a game environment, and I was proud of them, that, like I said, they communicated well.

“They had poise. They led their groups. They moved the ball when they were in there, and ultimately that’s their job as quarterbacks. They used their legs. I thought they played football and that was good to see. I was happy that they both got a chance to get in the game.”

That being said, Milroe shouldn’t be worried about his starting job. The redshirt junior was Alabama’s most impressive quarterback during the opener, completing 7 of 9 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns while adding 79 yards and a pair of scores with his legs. While he too has some room for improvement, he left the Tide feeling optimistic about his development moving forward.

“I thought he did a nice job,” Sheridan said. “I think, obviously, he was very explosive. The thing that I enjoyed and I was proud of him was just the communication between series, what he saw. I thought he saw the game very clearly. We talked about all week with the group, not just Jalen, but the whole team is improve as the game goes on. And the communication that occurs between series to try to just get better. See how they’re going to try to play you, be able to adjust, be able to adapt, so I was really proud of that. I thought he was calm, he was poised. I thought he was competitive, thought he showed toughness.”

No. 4 Alabama will look to build on its solid passing performance last weekend as it takes on a South Florida defense that allowed just 122 yards through the air during its opening win over Bethune-Cookman. The Crimson Tide and Bulls will kick off at 6 p.m. CT Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.