No separation at quarterback, at least not that Nick Saban is revealing
One day up, the next day down.
That’s essentially how Nick Saban described the quarterback competition between Cooper Bateman, Blake Barnett and Jalen Hurts. On one day a quarterback will look like he’s beginning to separate himself. The next day, however, another quarterback will take a step forward.
So after spring practice, summer workouts (during which the quarterbacks lead 7-on-7 drills) and through fall camp and beyond, the three quarterbacks have been locked in tight competition, and, even if he knows, Saban isn’t revealing which one, if any, holds a lead, however large or slight it might be.
“I think the big word there that I'd like to use with these guys is consistency,” Saban said following Saturday’s second and final scrimmage before the opening of the season Sept. 3 against Southern California. “One day or two days in a row, it will look like one guy is starting to sort of forge ahead a little bit. Then two days later somebody else seems to have a good day or two and it makes you think maybe this is the guy who's the guy starting to take the bull by the horns and is going to be the guy. So I think it's consistency.”
Although he didn’t mention any former quarterbacks by name, Saban’s comments did harken back to former teams that were helmed by John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy and even a young AJ McCarron when he said the team is looking for a guy to make the average play.
“I think what the quarterback has to understand, and you've heard me say this before, is you can't make the plays that lose the game,” he said. “You know, we've played here with quarterbacks on good teams that didn't necessarily do anything to win the game, they just didn't do anything to lose it. And I think it starts with that.”
What drives the veteran coach crazy are turnovers and mental mistakes, whether that’s making the wrong read or not getting the team to the line of scrimmage fast enough in order to avoid a delay-of-game penalty.
How much Saban values experience in a pool of three largely inexperienced quarterbacks (Bateman is the only of the three to actually play in a collegiate game) remains to be seen, but when asked, Saban did say he didn’t consider the age of quarterback to be a determining factor. At least not in terms of the numerical age.
Poise, decision-making and understanding of the offense, however, are front and center when making that determination.
“To me, I don’t look at a guy to whether he’s a freshman, a sophomore, a junior, I look at him as what kind of maturity does he play with not what his chronological age is or class he is,” Saban said. “How fast does he grasp what he needs to do to play at his position, and what kind of maturity does he go out there and compete with? What kind of decision-making and judgement?
“Now if a guy plays quarterback, and he’s a young player, I think that it will require us having patience in his development and not ask him to do things that he’s not ready to do.”
For all the attention the quarterback competitions receives, it is perhaps more concerning that for the second straight weekend Saban expressed the desire for more consistency in the running game. The offense returns just 64 career carries from 2015 between sophomores Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough. Previously Saban said the two freshman running backs, B.J. Emmons and Joshua Jacobs, would have to contribute this season.
It’s not immediately clear if Saban’s comments are limited to just the backs or if that constructive criticism includes the offensive line as well.
Saturday proved successful in area in that it didn’t produce any serious injuries. Saban said three players did sit out of the scrimmage with various ailments, including senior defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson (ankle), linebacker Keith Holcombe and wide receiver Cam Sims (knee soreness).
For the second straight week, UA media relations declined to make statistics available.
Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.