Alabama football: Is QB situation dire, or same old story?

The Alabama football program always seems to come into a season with questions at quarterback, and yet that hasn’t truly been their problem for quite some time.

Coming into 2016, the SEC media once again voted Alabama as their favorite to win both the SEC West and the conference title. No one is ready to say the Crimson Tide are ready for a fall, yet everyone is pointing to inexperience at quarterback as the underlying problem.

Is there really a big problem? Has Nick Saban run out of plug-and-play quarterbacks he can simply insert into his system and press go? Or is this just the same thing we hear every season with what will end up being the same result – Alabama in the hunt for yet another national title.

This year Alabama has four hopefuls – Cooper Bateman, Blake Barnett, Jalen Hurts and David Cornwell – to take over at starting quarterback for Jake Coker, who led the Tide to the 2015 National Championship.

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The problem? Recently engaged Barnett, a redshirt freshman has zero snaps to his credit. Hurts, a freshman, has zero snaps to his credit. Cornwell, a redshirt sophomore, has zero snaps to his credit. and Bateman, a redshirt junior, has one career start and 52 college pass attempts on his resume.

That perceived lack of real game experience is why the focus is being directed at Alabama’s quarterback quandary.

Many will say we’ve seen this before. It seems every season Saban pulls a magic rabbit out of his hat and turns it into a championship quarterback.

In 2011, Alabama suited up behind A.J. McCarron, who had attempted only 48 passes prior to starting that season. The result? An SEC and a national title.

In 2014 (following McCarron’s graduation), the Tide handed the starting job over to Blake Sims, who had only 39 prior pass attempts. The result? SEC title and College Football Playoff entrant.

In 2015, when everyone was sure QB would be the Tide’s achilles heel, Jake Coker stepped in, and despite only having 90 pass attempts during his time at FSU and Alabama, led the Tide to another SEC and national championship.

So is the quarterback situation for Alabama really that dire? What’s the difference in this year and past years when Saban was handing the starting quarterback job over to someone new?

In truth, nothing.

There is nothing different. Alabama has some young, untested but talented quarterbacks who will probably thrive under Saban and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. Just as Coker experienced a hiccup or two, this year Cooper Bateman, who has plenty of clipboard holding time in Saban’s system, will probably get the starting nod and be just fine when the smoke clears.

And if Bateman should start and stumble, the three youngsters behind him have had plenty of Alabama scouts looking them over to determine that they can indeed become Crimson Tide signal-callers.

Alabama’s strength at quarterback not only comes from the players they suit up, but from the massive talent on and coaching of the offensive line, as well as some incredible targets running down field and standing in the backfield.

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Every year, the media looks for Alabama’s weakness, and quarterback seems to be the obvious place to look each year. Eventually, the media and fans will all learn that Alabama recruits just fine at the quarterback position and that it ultimately won’t matter who’s under center.

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Alabama football: Is Tide QB situation dire, or same book, new chapter?

By Michael Collins | Jul 17, 2016

The Alabama football program always seems to come into a season with questions at quarterback, and yet that hasn’t truly been their problem for quite some time.