Who is the best qb of the Saban era?

Bamabuzzard

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I'm biased but IMO AJ McCarron is the greatest QB Alabama has had to date. I say I'm biased because my 10 year old son LOVES McCarron. He's got two white #10 jersey's and a crimson one. When he and his other brothers are in the front yard playing football. He's ALWAYS "AJ McCarron" and playing quarterback.
 

KrAzY3

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It would have to be AJ, but I'm going to balk at the notion that it's not even close. To give an example, as a redshirt sophomore, AJ had a rating of 147.3. Hurts as a true sophomore has a rating of 149.6. Of course AJ got better as a passer, but this isn't factoring in Hurts rushing either.

If you do that, you see McCarron's best season as a junior with a 84.9 QBR. Hurts this year has a 79.8. Yes, it is AJ, but it is fairly close... If Hurts continues to progress, he will surpass AJ.
 

BamaInBham

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Feb 14, 2007
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Level a: AJ, Jalen
Level b: GM, JC, BS, JPW

I put Jalen on same level with AJ because of what he has done to this point. He obviously has not accomplished the same as AJ and may not, but his many responses to Bama being threatened or challenged have been unprecedented at Bama and invaluable. His intangibles are transcendent. He may rise or fall, but this is just an unpopular opinion at this point in his career :smile:. Part of this is because the game has changed just in the 4 years since AJ was here. Now more points often have to be scored no matter how good your D is. Jalen has better skill talent to work with, AJ had a better OL - he probably couldn't function with Bama's current OL and the way defenses play them. IMO, now there is more pressure on the Bama QB to perform well to win.
 

Chukker Veteran

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I suspect JPW bled and left more on the field for Bama than you ever did, so take it down a notch. I'm not even going to argue your asinine points, but we have several former players who post here on TF.com and we're not going to allow people to run them off with these sorts of silly posts.

I'm not going to delete this as it's the perfect example as to how we don't want people posting on TF.com.
Sometimes I get a little upset at Greg's observations when he's calling one of our games, but I try not to vent because of this policy. We all liked his winning Saban's first Bama title, even if we still see room for improvement in his new career.
 

Padreruf

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It would have to be AJ, but I'm going to balk at the notion that it's not even close. To give an example, as a redshirt sophomore, AJ had a rating of 147.3. Hurts as a true sophomore has a rating of 149.6. Of course AJ got better as a passer, but this isn't factoring in Hurts rushing either.

If you do that, you see McCarron's best season as a junior with a 84.9 QBR. Hurts this year has a 79.8. Yes, it is AJ, but it is fairly close... If Hurts continues to progress, he will surpass AJ.
Also remember that at these stages AJ is at least one year older than JH. I believe JH will stay 4 years and be the standard for QB for the next decade. But that's just mho...
 

Ledsteplin

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AJ with Jalen closing in. Jake and Blake S. were pleasant surprises. At the beginning of both those seasons, I thought, "This the best Bama has at QB?". Then as both seasons progressed, I was like, "Wow, he's pretty doggone good!".
 

theballguy

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JPW was from birmingham I saw him play in HS, I still cannot figure out why we went after him. The kid had a weak arm, could not make some of the hard throws to the out guy across the field. Scrambled like a one legged dog. Sorry I saw this guy many tyimes in person, he on his best day would be 4th string now. he only started as at the time Saban had not recruited long enough to get a decent QB. Kid never once won a game for us, he lost 2 for sure for us with fumbles and sacks. Sorry I like the kid but am so glad he is no longer our QB. He cost us more games than he ever won us. Not one game did he WIN the game, he just quit losing them for us. I do not want to rag on any player, but the eyes do not lie. I am not goingto make him out to be better than he was just cause he played for Bama.
"Sorry I like the kid"

"I do not want to rag on any player..."
Eh, what??? :conf3:
 

theballguy

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Exactly..The rest of college football can get tired of Bama being on top all they want..The NC Game against The Irish put on display in one play what separates Bama from any one school & shows what it looks like to simply "Want It" more..


Man that was the most oddball thing I've ever seen but totally made sense knowing this team and CNS' influence lol.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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Kid never once won a game for us
Guess you don't remember him leading a last minute drive against Arkansas in CNS's first season. I do because I stood 10 feet from a HS Senior who was there on a visit at the field level as JPW threw the winning TD pass. You may have heard of him...his name is Julio. But, yeah, I'd say JPW won that game for us.:rolleye2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4dvvzaFyUQ
 

TraskiTideFan

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Apr 18, 2009
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AJ is tops of the current group because he was a 3 year starter with 2 NC on top of that.

But Jake Coker during the 2015 season was probably the most fun to watch when the light kicked on in the 2nd half of the Ol'Miss game. The man played practically the whole season with a broken toe with a screw in it and still figured out a way to scramble and plant to throw the long ball throughout that season.
 

CaliforniaTide

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My standard is what did the QB do while at Alabama. Thus, it is AJ McCarron. Jalen is definitely on track to be considered the best in the Saban era or even ever in Alabama history. I would even say Jalen would be the best if he won only 1 title but added in a Heisman trophy.

If I had to rank them:

1) AJ McCarron
2) Jake Coker
3) Greg McElroy
4) Jalen Hurts
5) Blake Sims
6) John Parker Wilson
 
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RT27

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Aug 13, 2017
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Eh, what??? :conf3:
My point was I let the facts speak, I did not want to give him any credit for just being a bama player. I feel the facts bear out my assessment of him. I was not ragging on him as a person just as a player. I like to be honest not look through crimson glasses. If you go back and watch his play he was by far the worst Saban had so far. He was a servicable QB but is not even close compared to the others.
 

TideMan09

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Man that was the most oddball thing I've ever seen but totally made sense knowing this team and CNS' influence lol.
Yup..Even though the game was already won..It did my Crimson Tide beating heart good watching AJ playing with the intensity, like the game was tied up or we were losing, same goes for Barret Jones & how upset Coach Saban got cause he didn't get the timeout called..
 

Bamabuzzard

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Should we even include Jalen at this point seeing that he's still playing? His story is still being written. Right now, among former players (QB's), AJ McCarron in my opinion is the best QB under Saban.

Side discussion- Does winning a NC factor into where someone ranks on this list? What if Jalen sets statistical records but never wins a NC? Does this impact your ranking of him?
 

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