TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- If you're looking for someone to make sense of Alabama's recent quarterback history, Nick Saban's finely appointed office is not the place to be.
"Somebody's got to win the team," the coach said matter-of-factly during the spring.
The subject: This looks like the third straight season Bama will go into August with uncertainty at the position.
The implication: There's no rush to find a starting quarterback.
"Let me be very clear," Saban said. "We're not going to be in any hurry to decide who the quarterback is."
The coach actually made that statement 2014, the year this merry-go-round started. The quotes are still good today. For some unknown, odd, unlikely reason, the quarterback situation is once again in flux heading into August.
That's fine for the average program with a hole in recruiting or an overabundance of talent. Neither really applies to Alabama. The situation just ... is.
Blake Sims came out of nowhere in 2014, thriving under offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and setting numerous team records. Jake Coker didn't start a game in his career until his redshirt senior season at Bama. Coker then lost the job in game three before rebounding to finish 14-0 in 2015.
Not only that, Saban is fine with the situation, to the point he's willing to go into the regular season without a locked-down starter.
So we go into August with these four candidates the subject of much speculation:
- Cooper Bateman, junior: The only QB with game experience
- David Cornwell, sophomore: Biggest man on campus, literally -- 6-foot-5, 234 pounds
- Blake Barnett, redshirt freshman: All-scout team, all kinds of potential
- Jalen Hurts, freshman: The early enrollee arguably has been the most impressive, but would Saban play a true freshman?
"Players understand it, competitors understand it," the coach said. "If it takes until the third game [to find a starter], so be it."
That's essentially what happened last season. Coker didn't start against Ole Miss but won the job afterward following a fine relief performance.
"You can say, 'This guy's the starter,'" Saban began, "but if the players in the room don't think he's the starter ... he's really not the starter until everybody thinks he should be the starter."
Got all that?
"That didn't happen last year until Jake got pissed in the Ole Miss game when he didn't start. He went in there and played like he should have played. That's when he won the team," Saban continued.
"He was so worried about technically what he was supposed to do there was no personality in his play."
All that's fine, but this is not the usual look of a championship team. Heisman Trophy runner-up AJ McCarron started for three seasons and chafed at the "game manager" label.
But that's essentially what the position has developed into here. Saban's quarterbacks don't have to win games, they just better not lose them. And when Alabama is a threat to be better at the 21 other positions, it's a philosophy that's easy to embrace.
"Whoever is the quarterback at Alabama is the point guard for the Lakers in 1980s," said Ryan Bartow, 247Sports national recruiting expert. "You have dudes upon dudes around you."
Consider Coker: In Alabama's final three games, he threw for 825 yards, six touchdowns and averaged 10.2 yards per throw. Against Clemson, he was the shotgun for 58 of the 71 offensive snaps.
Because of Coker, tight end O.J. Howard had a career game. Heisman winner Derrick Henry seemed to be integrated nicely into zone-read and pistol formations.
Consider history: Bama's last All-SEC quarterback was Jay Barker in 1994. The last Crimson Tide qb to be drafted in the first round was Richard Todd in 1976.
Since 2008, Alabama's starter has finished higher than 35th nationally in pass efficiency once. That was McCarron (30th) in 2014.
Here are this year's spring stats. Read them, digest them, then forget them. They're like ex-girlfriends. After a while, they don't matter. You move on.
Bartow ticked off his impression of the depth chart at the moment: "Bateman has experience. Cornwell is second. Blake is the most talented but more inconsistent then Hurts."
Saban isn't talking, which only fuels the speculation. Whoever starts against USC in the opener may be without All-America left tackle Cam Robinson to protect him. Robinson was charged recently with possession of a stolen firearm.
You'd think this historically unsettled quarterback situation would hurt recruiting at the position. Anything but.
The Crimson Tide were in the mix for native Alabaman Jameis Winston. Hurts was the No. 3 dual threat in the country coming out of high school. Alabama has a commitment from four-star Tua Tagovailoa, Marcus Mariota's protégé from Hawaii. Mariota has been bragging about Tua since he won the Heisman in 2014.
As Saban said, somebody's got to win the team -- but as he's proven, there's no rush.
