Will Bama ever have a first round pick at QB?

BamaInBham

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Quarterback projection to the next level is not a total crapshoot but it is close. There are so many intangibles, as well as questions like "can he read defenses at the next level", "can he read the field quick enough at the next level", etc. Steve Spurrier had nothing but busts in the NFL in 26 seasons, except for Rex Grossman who himself was usually a punching bag. Bama's wishbone produced as much NFL success in 12 years (Todd and Rutlege) as Surrier's passing attack in 26 years. Spurrier also had many highly ranked recruits who bombed at the college level. That's not a criticism of Spurrier as much as it is showing how hard it is to evaluate the QB position. Then you have Delaware who produced Rich Gannon and Joe Flacco. Purdue produced Bob Griese, Gary Danielson, Mark Hermann, Jim Everette, Drew Brees, Len Dawson, Kyle Orton, not counting some lesser lights who played a little. That was over many years and coaches.

Under evaluated prospects: Bart Starr: 17th round, Unitas: 9th, Curt Warner: FA, Tom Brady: 6th, et al., too many to name them all. As well, multitudes of first round busts. That's in the NFL. And they have much more to work with than college coaches. Far fewer players to consider. They are significantly older and have played at a much higher level. NFL franchises have much more expertise in their scouting depts. Of course many high picks have had great success but it is difficult to project. Just this year you have Prescott:4th round vs Jared Goff: first pick. Dak had more QBs taken before him, 7, than after him, 6. While there was some doubt about Goff's future success, no one even dreamed of Dak's immediate success, not even his mother. Which brings us to another element - time and chance. Though definitely talented physically, with great intangibles, Dak has been very fortunate to land on a terrific offensive team and to have had the Romo injury.

So, it's hard enough to find a QB at the HS level to play at the college level, much less to go on to the NFL. You don't even have the same motivation.

Sorry for the opus.
 

Redwood Forrest

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

100% agreed. Anybody who blames Jalen is a complete idiot in my opinion, and should be ashamed to call themselves a Tide fan.
Who would have won the game if Clemson had Jalen and Alabama had Watson? Alabama would have killed Clemson. They could not run on us and with Jalen they would not have had a down field passing game. QB is the reason we lost, in my IDIOT opinion. I don't understand the Jalen gets a free pass mentality. If you have a bad game it is bad -- no matter what your name is. Look at the stats for the game and then as you are looking at running and passing stats think what switching QB's would have done.
 

Bamamax1

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

Who would have won the game if Clemson had Jalen and Alabama had Watson? Alabama would have killed Clemson. They could not run on us and with Jalen they would not have had a down field passing game. QB is the reason we lost, in my IDIOT opinion. I don't understand the Jalen gets a free pass mentality. If you have a bad game it is bad -- no matter what your name is. Look at the stats for the game and then as you are looking at running and passing stats think what switching QB's would have done.
If we won though we would all be praising him. He led a TD drive that could have ended up to be a GW if Clemson didn't score.


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92tide

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I don't think any of us question his talent or tenaciousness or hard work. What scares us is the lack of progression the last 1/3 of the season -- and whether that was a freshman running into a wall or an indicator that the top of the mountain has been reached. Time will tell...
i think a lot of that has to do with defenses committed to pressuring him and not giving him time to throw. a big chunk of the time, he was running away from pressure and i am sure that he will learn to scan the field better under duress. i also think (hope) our receivers will learn how to get open when the qb is flushed (i guess they call it a scramble drill)
 

cbi1972

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I don't think it really matters. What we need at Alabama is a guy with the running ability of Blake Sims and the passing ability of AJ McCarron all in one package.
So, Blake Sims?

Blake Sims breaks records, celebrates with daughter after Alabama's SEC title game romp
The Alabama quarterback rewrote a few record books leading the Crimson Tide to a convincing 42-13 SEC title game win over Missouri. He eclipsed AJ McCarron's school season passing mark (3,063 set last year) in the second quarter and currently sits at 3,250. His efficiency made championship game history.

In all, Sims passed for 262 yards while completing 23 of 27 passes. That 85.1 completion percentage broke the SEC title game record of 77.1 set by Auburn's Jason Campbell in 2004. His 10 consecutive completions to open the game also broke the game mark of nine.
 

selmaborntidefan

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Uh, no.

Sims threw over half of those to ONE guy, Amari Cooper....who is in the NFL and was eighth in the league in receiving yards and would have done better if he hadn't had only 49 yards in the final two games after his QB went down for the year.

Giving Sims credit for what was accomplished mostly by one NFL level receiver is beyond absurd.

Sims threw for more yards in one season than Namath did in three at Alabama. Are you seriously suggesting Sims was the better QB?


Plus - don't you think there's a reason McCarron started ahead of Sims? It's called 'he was a better player at QB.'
And I say this as a Sims fan, but.....absolutely not.
 
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81usaf92

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Uh, no.

Sims threw over half of those to ONE guy, Amari Cooper....who is in the NFL and was eighth in the league in receiving yards and would have done better if he hadn't had only 49 yards in the final two games after his QB went down for the year.

Giving Sims credit for what was accomplished mostly by one NFL level receiver is beyond absurd.

Sims threw for more yards in one season than Namath did in three at Alabama. Are you seriously suggesting Sims was the better QB?


Plus - don't you think there's a reason McCarron started ahead of Sims? It's called 'he was a better player at QB.'
And I say this as a Sims fan, but.....absolutely not.
I think the point you are trying to make is that the qb would probably have to be the MVP of the offense for us to get a 1st round qb.
 

selmaborntidefan

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I think the point you are trying to make is that the qb would probably have to be the MVP of the offense for us to get a 1st round qb.
Pretty much.

I don't overly concern myself with whether we have a first-round pick or not. Tim Couch was a #1 overall pick.

Does anyone seriously think Kentucky's football program is in the same universe as Alabama's.

I've long said that if I were the draft guy, I'd NEVER draft a QB. It's too risky. What I would do is invite about ten of the top non-drafted prospects to camp each year and try to set my starter and back-up. Guys like Jamarcus Russell (I still can't believe anyone ever took him seriously) would not be walking off with millions while contributing nothing at all to football success.

Another one was Rick Mirer. I watched the dude play in several Notre Dame games in 1990 and 1991 and for the life of me I could not figure out his inflated reputation except "he plays at Notre Dame" and they were pretty good at the time. He never impressed me at all so I was shocked to hear his name touted as one of the top two for the 1993 draft. Heath Shuler was another one (I thought his predecessor Andy Kelly was a MUCH better QB and the stats bear that out except for the number of picks Kelly threw. Kelly's two best years were better than Shuler's best two and the Vols were more successful, too with a 24-5-2 with Kelly as starter vs 18-5-1 with Shuler.....again, the one knock on Kelly was his picks).

The two guys I'll admit who flamed out and surprised me were Ryan Leaf (I bought the hype for one of the few times) and Cade McNown.
 

CoreGroup

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Blake Barnett had a better chance of becoming a first rounder than Hurts does. Unless Hurts learns to throw simple passes and read defenses he'll never be drafted.
 

RTR91

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Blake Barnett had a better chance of becoming a first rounder than Hurts does. Unless Hurts learns to throw simple passes and read defenses he'll never be drafted.
So the guy that couldn't beat out the true freshman has a better chance of becoming a first rounder than the true freshman?
 

bamacon

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Blake Barnett had a better chance of becoming a first rounder than Hurts does. Unless Hurts learns to throw simple passes and read defenses he'll never be drafted.
And Blake will need to learn the same things, learn to keep his heart rate under 200 beats a minute in the huddle, and lastly needs to learn how to not quit on his team!


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Crimson1967

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

As long as we win I really don't care if our quarterback plays in the NFL.


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Moro Creek

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

According to some, Jalen will never be an elite passer. However, with improvements in his passing, he will have an excellent college career. My guess (right now) would be a fourth or fifth round pick after his senior year.
 

BamaFlum

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

This off season will be a good test of how well he can improve.


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colbysullivan

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

SMH, Jalen went from being a 3 and done player to being undrafted...

We went to the national championship game with a true freshman QB and should have won the game. Let's try to keep everything in perspective. Jalen will be fine.
 

colbysullivan

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Re: Will Saban ever have a first round pick at QB while at Bama?

Back to the question at hand. Based on his college production, AJ should have been a 1st round pick. Think about all the other 1st round QBs that have been drafted lately. He's certainly comparable to lot of them. Christian Ponder, Ryan Tannehill, and Blake Bortles are all examples.

He was drafted so much later because of his attitude after losing the Oklahoma game. He chose not to play in the Senior Bowl (his home town), and he came across as arrogant in his interviews and didn't take responsibility for the 2013 season.
 

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