TideSports 2016 preview: Quarterbacks
Returning starter: None
Starter lost: Jake Coker
Top candidates: Cooper Bateman started one game in 2015 (against Ole Miss) and finished the season 37 of 52 for 291 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Redshirt freshman Blake Barnett has been a fan favorite since he arrived on his campus, but he has yet to log any game time. True freshman Jalen Hurts has all the tools to be a special player, but he too has no collegiate experience. David Cornwell has been hampered this fall with an injured foot. He has yet to play in a game.
Newcomer to watch: Hurts played well at times during the A-Day Game in the spring, but he’s only been on campus since the spring semester and Saban has never played a true freshman at quarterback during his time in Tuscaloosa.
You need to know: For the previous two seasons, Alabama entered the season without a returning starter and became the first SEC team to win back-to-back conference championships since Tennessee accomplished the feat since 1997-98.
Outlook: For the third consecutive season, Alabama enters the season with questions at quarterback. Third-year offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has proven to be a quarterback whisperer of sorts, turning Blake Sims into one of the more efficient passers in the country in 2014 and helping Coker team with Calvin Ridley to pace the passing attack in 2015. Bateman has the most experience, Barnett has all the tools and Hurts is the most athletic of the three. It’s also important to remember that whoever starts the Southern Cal game isn’t guaranteed to start the remaining 11 regular-season games. Whichever quarterback wins the job will have the luxury of throwing the football to a exceedingly deep wide receiving corps.
Key stat: In the Crimson Tide’s lone loss of 2015, the offense turned the ball over three times and all three were interceptions by the quarterback (two by Coker and one by Bateman). In the other 14 games, Coker threw just six interceptions. Saban’s top rule for a quarterback is to protect the football.
Quotable: “We’re actually in that same area where there was four (candidates) a year ago and now it turns out there’s four again. We would always like it to be to one – that’s the best thing. But we don’t want to eliminate anyone because this has been a very strange quarterback competition over two years.” – UA offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin