Alabama QB competition article

Bamabuzzard

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While I think Tua, from day one, was much more polished and advanced as a QB, his ability to be worked into games after the W was secure was a big blessing for him. I think he was probably good enough to help us win most games last year (discussed in another thread) if he would have had to played as a true freshman like JH the year before, but there's no doubt in my mind he was able to grow more in the way he was eased into game like situations and that came to a culmination against Georgia. And the slow learning curve from last year will likely pay off this year as his talent is worked into game plans!
The garbage time Tua played during the regular season is what prepared him to do what he did in the title game. I know it's almost cliche, but there's no better experience than game experience. And unfortunately, no matter the sport, it is next to impossible to replicate a real game atmosphere in practice. That is why any playing time is beneficial.
 

westide

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While I think Tua, from day one, was much more polished and advanced as a QB, his ability to be worked into games after the W was secure was a big blessing for him. I think he was probably good enough to help us win most games last year (discussed in another thread) if he would have had to played as a true freshman like JH the year before, but there's no doubt in my mind he was able to grow more in the way he was eased into game like situations and that came to a culmination against Georgia. And the slow learning curve from last year will likely pay off this year as his talent is worked into game plans!
Tua was good enough to help us win every game last year. If he had been eased into the game against the Barn we would have been undefeated.
 

BamaMoon

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Tua was good enough to help us win every game last year. If he had been eased into the game against the Barn we would have been undefeated.
I know it was a hotly debated topic after the IB because we were really suffering from injuries at that time. So it's a guess, but I think I agree. Now, I'm glad it turned out like it did because we probably caught Georgia a little off guard with Tua in the second half.

If he would have played against Auburn, and we would have won, who knows if we would have won the NC???

I want to ALWAYS beat Auburn, but I'd trade a loss to them each year for another NC.
 

Crimson White

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But Tagovailoa wasn't "prone to turnovers last year". He threw 2 interceptions and I can't remember a fumble. Jalen Hurts turned the ball over 14 times in 2016, and fumbled several that we recovered.

Hurts had a good spring last year, and I expect he'll have another good spring, and the Jalen fans will be back on the bandwagon. When the regular season rolls around, though, and Hurts faces good defenses intent on taking his head off, it'll be more of the same if he's the qb.

There hasn't been a qb situation like this one during Saban's Alabama tenure. Tagovailoa took his word, when he was being recruited, that the best player would play. That wasn't really always the case last year.
 
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B1GTide

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Tua was good enough to help us win every game last year. If he had been eased into the game against the Barn we would have been undefeated.
I think that you lose to FSU in week one if Tua was your QB. No way to be sure, but the team that you played in week one was very good.
 

Moro Creek

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If Tua had started against FSU, he would have played just as well as Jalen did against USC in his first start. We would have beaten FSU just like we beat USC. Of course, that's something we will never know.
 

RollTide_HTTR

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I'm.pretty confident we beat FSU even with Mac at QB. Our defense completely destroyed their will to compete.
 

rgw

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Watched the Tennessee game tonight. Hurts was not very sharp in this game while Tagvailoa was pretty much on point other than that INT where he just lost the LB spying him.
 

teamplayer

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No, you clearly don't. To say that you think Tua is a better QB than Jalen is just an opinion. It is an opinion that many people share, so it seems that most of us wonder why you seem to be beating an already over discussed topic into the ground. However, you try to then run down Jalen and say that he is not even a good college QB, which just makes you look foolish. You ask for proof other than his record. Well, that takes away a big part of why he is good, but there are still other factors that would show that he is good. He is a leader who led his team to two straight national title games. He has thrown for 4,861 yards and has a completion percentage of 61.9%. He has 40 TDs and only 10 interceptions. He also has 1800 yards rushing and another 21 TDs. He also won the SEC offensive player of the year as a freshman. Yes, that's the SEC, which is where the best players are found. Yes, he has his weaknesses, and Tua may prove to be better, but acting like Jalen is not good is simply crazy.
Sorry, I typed this up for another thread. Anyway, yes, we have two good QBs, and I hope at least one of them develops into a great QB.
 

rgw

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The Texas A&M game may have been the first warning shot about some of the problems with the offense that reared it's head late in the season. People tend to look back at that game and think: "When Ridley went down, our offense sputtered and everything started bouncing for Aggy." That is not really completely true. The offense looked really disjointed despite getting out to a 24-3 lead after the first possession in the second half. Yes, Damien Harris has an explosive run for a TD and another that setup a short Hurts TD run. Other than that, it was a largely ineffective day for the tailbacks. I think the majority of the explosive runs were made on a scramble by Hurts. Ridley going down just piled onto the problem Hurts was having in the passing game that night. He hit some but overall this was a bad night for the passing game. He wasn't getting the ball out of his hands on plays clearly setup to be a quick hitter RPO/play-action pass. The same double slant w/ backside skinny post that Tua eats up were being called all night but Hurts was not firing the ball out at his receivers when they had the look. He seemed like he was waiting for them to uncover instead of just trusting his guys to make a play with a DB on their back like Tua did in the CFPCG. Because of this indecisiveness, Hurts got sacked or tackled behind the line of scrimmage quite a bit.
 

Snuffy Smith

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The Texas A&M game may have been the first warning shot about some of the problems with the offense that reared it's head late in the season. People tend to look back at that game and think: "When Ridley went down, our offense sputtered and everything started bouncing for Aggy." That is not really completely true. The offense looked really disjointed despite getting out to a 24-3 lead after the first possession in the second half. Yes, Damien Harris has an explosive run for a TD and another that setup a short Hurts TD run. Other than that, it was a largely ineffective day for the tailbacks. I think the majority of the explosive runs were made on a scramble by Hurts. Ridley going down just piled onto the problem Hurts was having in the passing game that night. He hit some but overall this was a bad night for the passing game. He wasn't getting the ball out of his hands on plays clearly setup to be a quick hitter RPO/play-action pass. The same double slant w/ backside skinny post that Tua eats up were being called all night but Hurts was not firing the ball out at his receivers when they had the look. He seemed like he was waiting for them to uncover instead of just trusting his guys to make a play with a DB on their back like Tua did in the CFPCG. Because of this indecisiveness, Hurts got sacked or tackled behind the line of scrimmage quite a bit.
This, IMO, has been his achilles heal. While he has been inconsistent with throwing the long ball far enough, I believe he has the arm for it and has shown on occasion that he is fully capable in that part of the game. I am not sure what it is about him and his inability to "throw the receiver open", but unless he can develop the feel for that aspect of the QB position I just don't see him ever being able to play QB at the next level. He has been fortunate to be surrounded for most of the last 2 years with receivers that can pretty much get themselves open for him against most opponents.
 

Intl.Aperture

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This, IMO, has been his achilles heal. While he has been inconsistent with throwing the long ball far enough, I believe he has the arm for it and has shown on occasion that he is fully capable in that part of the game. I am not sure what it is about him and his inability to "throw the receiver open", but unless he can develop the feel for that aspect of the QB position I just don't see him ever being able to play QB at the next level. He has been fortunate to be surrounded for most of the last 2 years with receivers that can pretty much get themselves open for him against most opponents.
Or he waits for them to "uncover" then throws it, by which point they are beginning to be covered again. Once uncovered, often receivers don't just stay running scot free, especially in zone, which is why so many balls are thrown behind the receiver when they come across the middle. The combination of only throwing once they come uncovered and recognizing that they are about to run into more coverage. On the other hand Tua sees it early, lets the ball go before they are out of their break which allows them to catch in stride and gain some YAC.

I went back and watched some of Hurts plays early in his freshman season and I actually think he will surprise some people this spring. I think he's going to take more chances and he's got the arm strength. I don't think his accuracy is as good Tua's - or his arm mechanics, but I think he will be throwing more people open or at least taking chances on some of those close plays over the middle. He has to trust his receivers more.
 

rgw

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The 2017 was a weird situation where the structure of it was solid and the playcalls in a vacuum were sound but they seemed to forget the QB they were calling the game for or something. Hurts is best as a passer when you can move the pocket which gives him time to throw and limits the scope of what he has to read in coverage. When he's being asked to do quick throws from the pocket, you're basically exposing all his weaknesses: height and longer throwing motion allows defenders to bat balls, he's not quick decision maker, and it makes his legs less of a threat since teams can mush rush to contain him within the pocket. But here's the thing: you could say the same things about Lamar Jackson who won a Heisman and may have been good enough in college to win a national title if his defense wasn't awful.

Frankly, Jackson has played weaker defensive competition than Hurts but I will admit he's usually better game-to-game as a pocket passer than Hurts and that is the difference. Hurts doesn't have to become Tom Brady in the pocket, he just needs to be good enough that the bootleg and sprint-out game is still viable and not over-defended by the opponent. Look at LJax v. LSU from the 2016 season. When you have enough team speed to make him stay in the pocket and your DBs are good to great then he looks as bad as the worst of Hurts.
 
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gtgilbert

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The 2017 was a weird situation where the structure of it was solid and the playcalls in a vacuum were sound but they seemed to forget the QB they were calling the game for or something. Hurts is best as a passer when you can move the pocket which gives him time to throw and limits the scope of what he has to read in coverage. When he's being asked to do quick throws from the pocket, you're basically exposing all his weaknesses: height and longer throwing motion allows defenders to bat balls, he's not quick decision maker, and it makes his legs less of a threat since teams can mush rush to contain him within the pocket. But here's the thing: you could say the same things about Lamar Jackson who won a Heisman and may have been good enough in college to win a national title if his defense wasn't awful.

Frankly, Jackson has played weaker defensive competition than Hurts but I will admit he's usually better game-to-game as a pocket passer than Hurts and that is the difference. Hurts doesn't have to become Tom Brady in the pocket, he just needs to be good enough that the bootleg and sprint-out game is still viable and not over-defended by the opponent. Look at LJax v. LSU from the 2016 season. When you have enough team speed to make him stay in the pocket and your DBs are good to great then he looks as bad as the worst of Hurts.
True statement, which is the issue. when you move the pocket, you're also basically eliminating a huge chunk of the field that now doesn't really have to be defended, and since he's making more simple reads, it's easier for the defense to understand what those are, then know what to stop the initial read and have Jalen take off running. In fact, teams knew if they could get just enough pressure they could flush Jalen to his right, and played him that way.
 

gtgilbert

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Since it's always been said that the backup QB is often the most popular player on the team due to how critical we are of the starter, I thought I would throw some praise towards Mac Jones.

http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/i...the_hype_other_alabama.html#incart_most-read_
let the three way battle begin! Seriously though, if Tua is what we all think he can become, he might only be a three year guy, so Jones could develop for two more years and then have two to start and show his stuff - That's work out well for him.
 

teamplayer

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let the three way battle begin! Seriously though, if Tua is what we all think he can become, he might only be a three year guy, so Jones could develop for two more years and then have two to start and show his stuff - That's work out well for him.
I agree. It's also nice to think that we will have solid QB play for the next four years. Now, if we only had some running backs and receivers... :)
 

drwho

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let the three way battle begin! Seriously though, if Tua is what we all think he can become, he might only be a three year guy, so Jones could develop for two more years and then have two to start and show his stuff - That's work out well for him.
Not if Taulia winds up at the Capstone.
 

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