Saban discusses how Alabama is handling its crowded QB room

VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. – For the first time since 2014, Alabama’s roster will feature five scholarship quarterbacks. At the moment, there’s still no indication which one of them will take over the starting role next fall.

Entering the spring, Alabama’s quarterback room consisted of junior Jalen Milroe and redshirt freshman Ty Simpson as well as true freshmen Dylan Lonergan and Eli Holstein. Things became even more crowded after Alabama decided to add Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner to the mix last month. That could make things interesting this fall as coaches attempt to evaluate all five of the passers before settling on a starter.

“I think we’ll have to get well-organized in terms of how we distribute the reps,” Nick Saban said during an appearance Tuesday at Birmingham’s Old Overton Club for the Nick’s Kids Golf Tournament. “But it’s good to have competition on your team, and hopefully, competition will make everybody better.”

Milroe, Simpson and Buchner are viewed as the primary candidates for the starting role and should split the majority of first-team reps when Alabama opens its preseason camp in August. Milroe worked with the first-team offense during the A-Day game as well as most of the spring. However, he was pushed closely by Simpson, who also received his fair share of first-team team opportunities. While both players showed their potential during camp, neither displayed the consistency Saban is looking for at the position, prompting the head coach to pluck Buchner from the transfer portal.

Earlier this month, Milroe spent time with several players Crimson Tide players training at Beast 1 Athletics in Tampa, Florida. Meanwhile, Simpson was seen putting work at QB Country’s training facility in Nashville, Tennessee last week. Tuesday, Saban stated the importance for all of his players to remain sharp over the next couple of months in order to hit fall camp firing on all cylinders.

“We’ve done Zooms with our team this month,” Saban said. “Even though coaches are on the road, some of the other folks in the organization have tried to do Zooms with guys so that we can review what we did in the spring and the new guys can actually start to try to make some progress, too.

“Always trying to figure out how can we teach better? How can guys learn better? And every individual may learn differently, but those are all things that are important in the spring, now and this summer will be especially important for all the new guys and the young players on our team.”

Alabama will begin its season on Sept. 2 when it hosts Middle Tennessee State inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.