I haven't read the entire thread, but I'm replying to the original post:
If Tua continues to play the way he has thus far, he should not stay in Tuscaloosa 1 second longer than he has to. He will be a very wealthy man. Teams will be vying for his services, and those at or near the top will move mountains to get him (New York Giants, LA Chargers, perhaps Tampa Bay and Miami as well).
Now, moving forward, let's temper some expectations. Tualia is VERY good....but he isn't Tua. I don't want anyone to take for granted what they're seeing right now. Tua is a once in a generation talent. However, the level of talent that Coach Saban is assembling in Tuscaloosa for such an extended period of time will likely never be seen again (only rivaled by that 90s to early 00s Miami run). Taulia can be special with all he'll have around him.
BUT....Taulia isn't the only QB in the upcoming class. As one of my really good friends (who played for Coach Bryant) has told me, he feels that the pressure to play Paul Tyson over Taulia is what will run Coach Saban out of Tuscaloosa (I disagree wholeheartedly, for the record). Paul Tyson is very good. When I saw him this summer, I thought he needed to get bigger in the lower body. He has looked much better this season than he did last season and even over the summer in 7 on 7. At best, he's AJ McCarron. At worst, he's Jay Barker. Pretty darn good either way. But side by side, Taulia is better in all aspects except size.
And even more than that, don't overlook Mac Jones. Nick is notorious for going with guys that the trusts over more talented guys (for example, nobody that knows anything about football can give me one football related reason why Hootie Jones should have been on the field over Deionte Thompson at any point last season). By that time, it will be Jones's 4th year at Alabama and he will have had 2.5 years of QB coaching from Dan Enos.
Either way, the bottom line is this, there is a reason why Coach Saban hired so many young coaches this past overhaul. Barring health issues, he has no intentions of going anywhere any time soon. And he wanted a hungry, energetic staff that was committed to proving that he is still (and will be) king of college football until he decides to leave. (Did you notice how irritated he sounded at SEC Media days when discussing coaches negative recruiting him about his age? There is a certain someone, who shall remain unnamed that got in his craw and is feuling all of this....)
Please, enjoy what we have right now. All this belly aching over giving up 31 to a team that we still beat by 34, just stop it. We are in the midst of something that will likely never be duplicated.