Should Tua be redshirted?

JaxTider

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And Blake Barnett gave people that same feeling.

As did Phillip Sims.

As did David Cornwell.

QB is not a position where a coach can just say "we're going to let this one guy play this amount of time per game because he's so good." That's just asking for trouble.

We all know Saban hates clutter. If he did what you think should happen, he would be driving a moving truck worth of clutter.
Your assuming those three names belong in the same breath as Tua. Not in my book.

Either there is a competition or Tua transfers.
So the real choice is play him or say goodbye.

Saban has to provide this guy some playing time. And I honestly think he knows that.
 

RTR91

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Your assuming those three names belong in the same breath as Tua. Not in my book.

Either there is a competition or Tua transfers.
So the real choice is play him or say goodbye.

Saban has to provide this guy some playing time. And I honestly think he knows that.
And you're assuming Tua is going to bolt if he doesn't get to play as a true freshman.
 

TiderJack

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Your assuming those three names belong in the same breath as Tua. Not in my book.

Either there is a competition or Tua transfers.
So the real choice is play him or say goodbye.

Saban has to provide this guy some playing time. And I honestly think he knows that.
Thank goodness all of our highly rated 4* and 5* players don't feel this way. We would have 24 players on our roster. So glad Reuben, Dalvin, Rashaan, Da'Shawn and Robert Foster did not feel this way.
 

B1GTide

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And you're assuming Tua is going to bolt if he doesn't get to play as a true freshman.
That, I think, is the root of his concern. Not so much that Tua has to play because Jalen is a liability, but that Tua has to play right away or he will leave. This even though Tua's entire family is committed to the Tide.

This isn't another BB family. Tua seems well grounded, and his family is saying all of the right things. I don't see him going anywhere due to playing time in this coming season.
 

KrAzY3

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Your assuming those three names belong in the same breath as Tua. Not in my book.
This kind of overhype is part of the issue. You're saying he's not even in the same breath as other 4 and 5 stars? That's just so speculative. That's how Jeremy Johnson was named All-SEC and a Heisman candidate before he'd ever really done anything. Sure, he might look good, sure it might be promising, but he still hasn't done anything yet! So he's far closer to those three guys than to some of the people I've seen him compared to. I think this is one reason the conversation can get out of hand, you can't just outright dismiss the notion that Tua is mortal and then still have a reasonable conversation about him.

Other than that though, I think a lot of us are scratching our heads trying to figure out ways to keep him around because we do believe he's a special talent (just not so special that he's a 6 star). I for one wish there's a way he could redshirt. Even though it sounds ridiculous, I'd even cosign on the idea that Mac redshirts and then Tua redshirts the next season. I want to keep the guy around, but... that shouldn't extend to him getting playing time he hasn't earned just to keep him happy
 

Crimson White

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Here's the main hang-up I have with the situation. A true dual threat quarterback can be nearly unstoppable in college. We're talking about guys putting up 50 TDs and 5,000 yards. That's what Tebow did, that's what Jackson did last year for example. If that sounds like a long shot to you, Jalen had a total of 3,734 yards and 36 TDs, as a true freshman. So, we're not dreaming when we say if he improves, if he gets better, he can become a truly dominant, Heisman trophy candidate type of quarterback.

People are kind of hung up on how he finished (which was a combination of tough defenses and a horrible coordinator situation), but it seems like how well he actually did is being lost somewhere in there. It was the best true freshman season of all time, statistically speaking. That's not idle speculation, that's just what it was. He also did that against the toughest schedule in all of the FBS. He didn't get to feast on weaker competition, but when he did you saw what he was capable of (the Miss. State game for example). Now, the trick is people are kind of losing sight of the dominant dual threat quarterback thing, and talking about things more in the sense of the best attributes as a passer. One is more important in college, one is more important in the pros. The issue of course is we spent years wishing for a guy like Hurts, and not that we have him, it seems some wish more to have a more pure passer.

The problem is you almost never get both. You get Tebow, who dominated college football, or you get Tom Brady, who you know, won a couple bowl games. I'll tell you right now, I'd choose Tebow over Tom Brady, in college. Barnett was a better passer, Barnett is still a better pro prospect than Hurts. He was more experienced than Hurts, and he was still his backup who transferred out because he knew he couldn't reclaim the job. Is Tua a better passer? Sure, is he potentially a fantastic pro and college quarterback? Absolutely, but until I see Hurts regress (and he certainly didn't look like he had in A-Day) I know what he's done and I know what he has the potential to do. I'm big on Tua to though, that's why I really wish there was some way for him to redshirt...
Who says that Tua can't be an effective runner? From what I've read he is in fact a "dual threat" guy. Honestly, for most of last season, Hurts wasn't really wasn't much of a dual threat because about half those passing yards were jet sweeps and screen passes. Kiffin did a great job, imo, masking those deficiencies for most of the year. In due time, though, defenses learned he wasn't very effective on the intermediate and long routes, and moreover, wasn't very good at reading the defenses and checking down to secondary receivers. Dual threat is run and pass. When it came crunch time, we didn't have the pass part.
 

KrAzY3

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about half those passing yards were jet sweeps and screen passes
For the record, a vast majority of his passing yards were across the line of scrimmage. As to the rest, we've heard this song and dance before. Hurts played the toughest schedule in all of college football, he still had the best season statistically any true freshman quarterback has ever had. He was SEC Offensive Player of the Year, and it wasn't just because he ran for 900 yards, it was because he also threw for about 2,800. We all saw A-Day, we saw the Miss. State game and we all know he can throw the ball down the field. Between this post and the no one is giving Tua a chance post, we get it, you don't respect Hurts. Good for you, he was a true freshman and obviously should improve some. But I am tired of people utterly dismissing a fantastic season as something less than what it was. Hurts deserves more respect than you are giving him, imo...

Edit: To give an example, something I haven't done but I could have done is completely dissect how Tua looked against the first team defense. It wasn't stellar, but why should I waste time criticizing him for it? I could have belabored the point that two almost picks turned into TDs, but why bother? He's a true freshman, he has a lot to learn. It's just irritating when people want to take the context out and just point out shortcomings. I can see beyond Tua's struggles and tell he's still something special... One would think Hurts should be afforded the same objective analysis. You just got through watching Hurts throw, and do a great job, and you're still saying talking all that noise?
 
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Crimson White

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It's a fairly pointless argument anyway. If Hurts has improved enough to be consistent on the intermediate and long passes, reading defenses, holding on to the ball, and checking down to secondary receivers, he'll be fine. If he hasn't improved enough in those areas, then Tua will probably get a chance to prove what he can do. St. Nick doesn't make many mistakes. I'm sure he has this one covered too.
 
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Intl.Aperture

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How is it just now 3 days after A-Day and yet I already want it to be Fall so Hurts can start against FSU and I can stop rolling my eyes at all these posts?

Tua will play as much as he deserves. If he transfers because he doesn't like it then I'll say the same thing I say to all our transfer QB's: "Good luck and bon voyage." We aren't reliant on just 1 QB to bring us titles and as long as Nick Saban is the head coach that will continue to be a real possibility. Not going to fret over the whimsy of an 18 year old kid. The Alabama dynasty will not have it's back broken because a great QB decided to transfer out and I think it's foolish to bend over backwards just because an unproven commodity might decide to leave.

We could've probably won titles with Blake Barnett but nobody here is winging that we didn't do enough to keep him around. We will always have good enough options to get us into championship scenarios as long as Nick Saban runs the program and Tua can ride the bench and take mop up snaps like every other QB before him or he can leave. I'm not worried about Alabama.


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tidefanbeezer

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I don't see any benefit to red shirting Tua. If Jalen gets inured, I'd like to have the next best guy in there; not the guy that was the default because we are trying to save a year of eligibility on someone else.

Let's assume that Jalen is so good, he leaves after next year. Red shirt or not, if Tua turns out to be all-world, he could still be one and done as a starter. So what did red shirting get you?

With the lack of quality depth at the position, it doesn't make sense to red shirt him. Let him get reps like any other back-up would.
 

selmaborntidefan

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I just remember that Saban won an SEC title in a game he trailed a potential national championship team by ten points at halftime and his starting QB went down.

He also had an undefeated season with Greg McElroy, and while I liked Mac and ain't trying to pull him down, he wasn't exactly John Elway.

And he did wonders for JP Wilson in 2008.

I guess that's why I'm not worried one way or the other. Houdini keeps pulling rabbits out of the hat. Of course, he does this by making sure there's always one IN the hat.
 

day-day

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Tagovailoa and Jones have not been around very long. They will likely improve significantly before the first football game.

Tagovailoa looks like the clear 2nd for now. If he improves over the summer, he may get some meaningful playing time; maybe not when the game is tight but also not just complete mop-up duty. I agree with others who posted that the 2nd best QB on the roster needs to play and be ready if needed.
 

day-day

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I just remember that Saban won an SEC title in a game he trailed a potential national championship team by ten points at halftime and his starting QB went down.

He also had an undefeated season with Greg McElroy, and while I liked Mac and ain't trying to pull him down, he wasn't exactly John Elway.

And he did wonders for JP Wilson in 2008.

I guess that's why I'm not worried one way or the other. Houdini keeps pulling rabbits out of the hat. Of course, he does this by making sure there's always one IN the hat.
And making sure there are 4- and 5-carrot rabbits all over the field...:)
 
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RTR91

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Saban has been adamant all spring that there is no qb controversy. I've never heard him be so insistent about it. I'm sure he's trying to instill in Hurts confidence.
Or maybe he's trying to prevent a useless media talking point?


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