Re: 2016 Season QB Thread (Moved QB Posts from Practice Thread)
So far, Saban has been deafeningly silent in that. Which means that if someone else is actually outperforming Bateman, but Bateman is nevertheless getting all the public notice, Saban is playing games and jerking around both that guy and Bateman.
Or, we could just be way over-analyzing Saban's comments. There's a lot of hyperbole there. "deafeningly silent", and "jerking around". What is really happening is Alabama fans are hyper-fixated on every little thing and they overreact constantly to the most subtle things.
Let's go over a few of things that transpired over the years. Keep in mind I'm not just talking about your comments. There were those who swore up and down on these forums, that despite Blake Sims being #2, Phillip Ely was in fact the super secret backup and if AJ had to come out Ely would be the guy. They swore that right up until he transferred out. Then, they continued the same thing with Alec... sure Blake was the #2 but really Alec was the guy because reasons.
Coker was viewed by some as one of the top NFL prospects at QB before he ever started a game. Of course he was going to come in and take the starting job, and the truth is he had a shot at that. But it didn't happen. When people started to waver a bit though even true freshman Cornwell was floated as a possibility, at that point no reason other than he was not Blake Sims (who some claimed was utterly incapable of throwing the long pass). I will interject here though that even I bought into the notion that Coker seemed like the likely starter, and even Saban himself said after the fact that at one point Coker was in the lead. It just goes to show you how fluid these things are and how pointless trying to make predictions ends up being.
Now last year turned into a real circus, with someone tried out as a receiver ending up back in the picture, some touting a true freshman (again), and even Alec's name being brought up again. Things changed weekly it seemed, with a contingent of Bateman, Cornwell, Coker, Barnett and Morris supporters tending on the current mood. I for one consistently shot down the notion of Cornwell or Barnett, feeling both were inexperienced. This year, we have heard positives and negatives about everyone of the four candidates (we've also seen claims that proved false, like the idea that Bateman was faster than Hurts). We've seen scrimmage stats, we've seen A-Day, and yes Bateman appears to be leader by default thus far. But really what does all of this tell us?
It doesn't tell us much. In a quarterback battle, Saban is willing to go into the regular season to find out who the starter is. He doesn't know who the guy is right now, nor does anyone else. We can only attempt to predict what will happen next, but it can be done with no more certainty than predicting who will win game 6 of the NBA Finals. It is just something to do in the off season.