Quite honestly, the way some of you think, if the equivalent of the Tom Brady of today were currently a frosh at Bama, he simply couldn't see field for the next three years.
Tom Brady didn't really see the field for the first three years...
I was thinking about the overhype earlier, I mean we've seen Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers brought up, but
they didn't even get that level of hype! Seriously though, in his first three years on campus Tom Brady threw only 20 passes!
But any objective observer could see that, had we switched QBs with Clemson last year, we would have won that game by a minimum of 35 points. Minimum.
While most of us would admit a wider margin, that's still quite a stretch. You just can't know that. Furthermore, are we including losing his playcaller? Because that part happened to and some people seem to be pretending it didn't. The bottom line though is you were comparing a veteran to a true freshman, and not just any veteran, you're comparing an early draft pick, Heisman candidate to a true freshman. I think everyone knew going into the season that Watson was going to be a better quarterback than Alabama had. Just like almost every program in the country. How about this though, if you swapped out that version of Watson for freshman Watson, Alabama wins and probably by a wide margin.
And that is why, in my book, there is no justification for believing that Hurts has "won" the position in any real sense.
I'm sorry but your "book" is missing some pages. He won the position, in a legitimate battle. One that included someone who had a start the year before, and Barnett, who is a legit NFL prospect. Saban has backed that up repeatedly. He won again on A-Day if you want to consider that a competition. He won the darn job and to insinuate otherwise is, and I hate to have to keep using this word, disrespectful.
I think most of us here can agree Hurts can and should improve on last season. We all can agree on that. Just like we all agree Tua can and should improve over how he looked at A-Day against the first team defense. What irritates me, is when Hurts gets judged unfairly and not given due credit. I give Tua credit, I've said it before, in terms of just being a pure passer, he is probably better! He is a legit NFL candidate, I'm not doubting or bashing the guy! I like him, I hope he sticks around! But, Hurts is on the cusp of being an elite college quarterback. That's just the truth. Was the end of the season rough? Yes it was, but he was playing elite defenses that other good quarterbacks struggled against to (like JT Barrett), he also had to juggle offensive coordinators, which was a worse situation than I think some seem to realize.
So, I give Tua credit. But, don't forget, Cam Newton backed up Tim Tebow. That's just how that works sometimes, it isn't all about who is going to get drafted higher. Perhaps a lot of this is looking at it backwards. Hurts won the job, the job is his. He'd have to do something to lose it now, which is of course possible.