Let's discuss Bama's 2014 quarterback situation.

I'm going to post my list/order of guys that I posted in the previous thread.

Here's a list of the order of guys according to what Saban and insightful people have said:


1. Jacob Coker - provides mobility along with a big body. (will have 2 years to play if he transfers)
2. Blake Sims - current #2, but Saban has said the competition is wide open in the Spring. (will be last season on campus)
3. Luke Del Rio - Saban said he's the #3 as a freshman. Things can change, though. (will have 4 years left)
4. Alec Morris - took the #3 reps behind Sims during games to keep Del Rio's redshirt. (will have 3 years left)
5. Cooper Bateman - prized QB signee of the 2013 class. (4 years)
6. Parker McLeod - took a redshirt this season as a freshman (4 years)
7. David Cornwell - current committed QB for 2014 class. Recruiting gurus are very high on him, but he's recovering from a knee injury. (4, possibly 5, years)


I like what Blake's mobility and athleticism, but he's not a great passer. He's improved, but I'm not sure he's where Saban and Nuss would prefer.


Would Saban go for a two QB system of Blake and Del Rio if Coker does not transfer?

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I'm not going to mention Coker yet until it's a done deal and he's on campus. Until then I'm not getting my hopes up.

Honestly I could see it being Del Rio with Sims coming in if Del Rio is in trouble during a game. I think Morris/Bateman battle it out for 3rd so far. I don't see McLeod being top 4 with this group at all.

Cornwell is a for sure redshirt even though he should be a good one.

Right now it's one of he biggest unknown's since Coach Saban's arrival. The only thing for sure is that they'll all get an opportunity.

Not to hijack the thread…. but given our QB situation, would CNS ever consider a JC stud? Just curious….

It'd be great if yhe defense could allow the pressure to be on that side of the ball.

Sims has done what the coaches have asked and seems to want a chance to lead the team he's been a part of for several years now. He could start until he fails to manage the offense. With our receivers he'll have to get the ball down-field a few times.

It's a total mystery to me.

Based on what has been done in Coach Saban's tenure, regardless of who the OC is, we will continue to be a balanced offense. Therefore, I can't see us changing our offensive philosophy with Blake Sims for one year when we will be back to square one in 2015. My guess is that it's any of the 4 or 5 other QBs and not Blake Sims. With that said and if in fact we don't go with Sims next year, then I don't understand why we didn't play any of the freshmen in mop-up duty, particularly Alec Morris. Perhaps it's because they didn't want to burn the redshirt on Del Rio, Bateman or Mcleod and Morris is pretty heavily buried on the depth chart.

64met said:

Not to hijack the thread…. but given our QB situation, would CNS ever consider a JC stud? Just curious….

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Bringing Coker in would be somewhat equivalent to this.

My 2 pennies and this is more of a defense tirade I suppose ...

I am not sold on the fact that if we have a new QB, we won't compete at a very high level -- and --- to be perfectly honest, I would love to see us go back to being heavy on the run -- like we were in '11, '10, '09, '08. I enjoy watching that lots more than I did than what we had this last season. Balance can be a great thing but I don't think we ran nearly as well as we could have this past season.

Nothing against AJ -- AT ALL -- he is easily the best QB we've had since I've started watching Bama in 78. But... we're not controlling the clock and tempo when we're passing 50% of the time or more. That is a big strength when you can do that! Yeah we'll have to pass when it's 3rd and 6 or more but with a great forward running game, we shouldn't see a lot of those. I am satisfied more with a hard-fought 21-10 game than I am with a 42-28 type game. I'll take 11 of those a season and I'll bet you we still win the West.

Defense will definitely help our QB situation (see 2011) and next year's defense will be much better. Why did we give up so much against Texas A&M and Auburn? Because we had a very young defense that had to make split-second decisions. Is Tre Mason talented? sure but his 300 yards against Missouri is really a product of the system. He's not getting yards like Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson or Eddie Lacy. He's a decent back but running alone he's far from being a world beater. He gets those kind of yards because of their offensive style. He and Marshall are able to split the defense completely in half. It won't be long until we or someone else figures the gimmick out. Then, Auburn will probably go back to 5 years of mediocrity at best.

Now that our defense has more experience and knowledge, they can play more with instinct and talent. I think we'll be just as good next year as we were this past season. Remember we had a hard time stopping LSU's option when JJ and their RB's ran it on Nov 5 (yeah I admit, it was't a great option) but we adjusted in the NC game and completely shut it down.

My thoughts are that if we can win the West, everything else will just be gravy. I believe anytime we can do that, the rest will take care of itself and we can expect to win the NC 90% of the time if we can just get that far.

Just remember, guys--the last two times we had a new starting QB, we won the championship.

Several schools (one in particular) have done well bringing in transfer QB's (direct or roundabout). I can see Coker being a good choice if he has a criminal record and a questionable recruiting background.

This adds a litltle more interest to the A-day game; at least to see the QB's that will be here during the spring. Keeping the redshrit on some of these guys has really kept us in the dark by not getting to see bits of playing time (which probably wouldn't have told us much anyway).

Also, let's not forget Nuss has experience with a mobile QB from his time at Washington (Jake Lockler and Kieth Price).

Jess mentioned last week our offense could resemble Okie State's somewhat if Blake gets the starting job.

Bamabuzzard said:

I guess my concern is if the backup to McCarron is as well prepared as McCarron was to McElroy? McCarron obviously had to grow into the position but it seemed he had a minimum level of command of the offense before he even stepped on the field. I wonder where the other backups are in relation to his.

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Right this second Buzzard I don't think any of them are even half as close to being as prepared for the job as AJ was.