Re: 2016 Season QB Thread (Moved QB Posts from Practice Thread)
The biggest issue with Hurts is it is hard to tell how much his inexperience would hurt him in a real game. The other is he's spent a lot of time facing Alabama's second and third string defenses, so for instance at A-Day he looked better than he might otherwise.
Having said that, to reiterate the hype is based on ability, not just people being driven into a frenzy. At this point when Cornwell was a true freshman, people knew he was out of the hunt. At this point last year people realized Barnett was out of the hunt. Hurts? I had to change my tune on him after A-Day. I went from no way he starts, to yeah it is a possibility.
It still feels like a long shot, but I read that Bateman had two interceptions. The main thing Bateman has going for him should be his ability to avoid mistakes, if he has any issues doing that, then it really opens the door for Hurts (and Barnett).
I just find this scenario utterly fascinating. In the past, a lot of my comments about QBs ended up just being in defense of one of them, be it JPW, Blake Sims, or Coker. This time though, it's kind of like you have a GMac (experienced with limited talent), Phillip Sims (huge upside, not yet fully manifested), and then? Then you have this, Nick Saban hasn't really had it before, true freshman dual threat phenom which very will could be the next game changing QB in college football (but of course could turn out to be a bust). USC had a few years where they managed to stack talent at the position (5 star QB as back-up punter, back-up QB drafted in NFL and eventually starts, not to mention a stream of Heisman winners/candidates), but this is really the first time I can recall Nick Saban having this kind of talent stacked at the position. It's a good thing...
Edit: I would also add this, there's no question that Bateman/Barnett/Hurts are the best running group of QBs that the team has had. I know Blake Sims was a good runner, but overall this Alabama defense will probably be the best adjusted to deal with running quarterbacks.