DeBoer gets his first transfer ... and it's a QB. Austin Mack

[KrAzY3]

This thing seems to have legs, here's some quotes from an Alabama poster on CFB reddit. I can't view 247 but this should be pretty easy to verify:

John Talty: Feel confident saying that Julian and the family intended/wanted to stay and this is driven much more by DeBoer and staff than by Julian. Unfortunate situation because I'm a huge believer in Julian's talents and think he's going to be a star.

Tom Loy: This. He wanted to stick it out initially and then well, things went south. Shocked to be honest. Sayin is the real deal. I think the new staff will regret this one. Just my opinion.

If anyone can find a screenshot of those posts, then it's pretty much verified. Those two are both plugged in industry insiders.

 

[B1GTide]

You guys are already throwing DeBoer under the bus and he hasn't been there a week. Shame on you all.

Get behind your head coach or stop pretending that you support Alabama instead of you own egos.

 

[JessN]

Gary Hollingsworth 2.0?

Brock Huard was comparing him to Cam Newton last night and while I don't think that was accurate, he's not Gary Hollingsworth, either. Nothing against Gary, one of my all-time favorite stories, but the play that starts at 00:45 at that video shows Mack getting off balance, off the wrong foot, sliding up and delivering a strike that travels 50 yards in the air. Gary couldn't really do that.

 

[Power Eye]

Any truth to this??

I can't imagine there is any truth to that whatsoever, but I do feel certain there will be other absurd posts from "people in the know" about how things went down with players who transferred.

 

[KrAzY3]

You guys are already throwing DeBoer under the bus and he hasn't been there a week. Shame on you all.

I'm legitimately trying to figure out what happened here.

There was a tweet that Milroe was transferring that was posted to USAToday and within a minute or two I was happy to debunk it, post proof it was fake, and move on. If I can prove quotes don't exist (that they didn't actually say those things), good, but right now on Reddit there's a post with 300 upvotes from an Alabama fan with those quotes.

I'd love to be able to tell him they're inaccurate.

 

[JessN]

You guys are already throwing DeBoer under the bus and he hasn't been there a week. Shame on you all.

Get behind your head coach or stop pretending that you support Alabama instead of you own egos.

I said this earlier today on a different site ... it's our program to follow, but it's the coach's program to run.

Roster management in a transition period is already tough, but what we're seeing here right now -- and will be seeing for another 20 days yet -- is unprecedented. It's like doing the Charleston in the middle of a minefield and trying not to get blown up.

There are a couple of points to be made about our QBs in general:

* Austin Mack spent a year as a backup, running scrimmages, knowing the coaches and having them learn about his habits, etc. They've seen him operate in live fire against a defense; Sayin has never done that. He was at bowl practices but it never rose to the level of what Mack did at UW.

* When they roll the ball out for the first day of spring practice, Jalen Milroe will be QB1. He may not stay QB1, but someone is going to have to take it from him. I know more than a few Alabama fans who were convinced Julian Sayin was going to be handed the keys to the offense the second the 2024 season started, and that wasn't going to happen under either the former or the current coach.

* None of us are privy to what the Sayins and DeBoer discussed. The pundits are guessing. Regardless, go back up to my first statement: This is DeBoer's ship to pilot. If he wants to clear the entire QB room and rebuild it with transfers, that's his right to do so.

Like Buddy Ryan said, if you listen long enough to the fans, you'll soon be sitting with them.

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

Brock Huard was comparing him to Cam Newton last night and while I don't think that was accurate, he's not Gary Hollingsworth, either. Nothing against Gary, one of my all-time favorite stories, but the play that starts at 00:45 at that video shows Mack getting off balance, off the wrong foot, sliding up and delivering a strike that travels 50 yards in the air. Gary couldn't really do that.

Sorry; wasn’t really serious other than each is of slight frame relative to his height. I recognize that I reject the use of blue font at my peril or, as Earle tells me, at the risk of being thought stupid 😉 …

[edit to correct typo]

 

[oskie]

... Roster management in a transition period is already tough, but what we're seeing here right now -- and will be seeing for another 20 days yet -- is unprecedented. It's like doing the Charleston in the middle of a minefield and trying not to get blown up.
...

... the secret is to move your knees, but not your ankles

 

[JessN]

Sorry; wasn’t really serious other than each is of slight frame relative to his height. I recognize that I reject the use of blue font at my peril or, as Earle tells me, at the risk of being though stupid 😉 …

Don't worry about it, it's not a bad question if you just watched some of his pocket highlights. The difference really comes when he gets out and scrambles, and there aren't a lot of scrambles on that tape. I know some people don't like to follow video links and watch the entire thing.

Reminder: He's 16 years old in those clips. He reclassified to be able to sign with UW a year early. So he's still growing into his frame.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Brock Huard was comparing him to Cam Newton last night and while I don't think that was accurate, he's not Gary Hollingsworth, either. Nothing against Gary, one of my all-time favorite stories, but the play that starts at 00:45 at that video shows Mack getting off balance, off the wrong foot, sliding up and delivering a strike that travels 50 yards in the air. Gary couldn't really do that.

I made the Hollingworth comparison because of body build. Gary was our 3rd stringer and a baseball player if I remember correctly and Homer Smith just put in a brilliant offense for him to thrive. Mack seems to be a legit NFL prospect despite his build.

 

[BamaBoySince89]

I don’t know what was said and at this point it doesn’t matter, Sayin is in the portal. I felt like KD may want his guys in this case, but even I could be wrong.

Be patient, and give KD time, it will either make sense by fall or we are really in trouble. Just remember, we missed out on Tebow and beat him 4 years later on the way to a NC. IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!!!

 

[CoolBreeze]

I said this earlier today on a different site ... it's our program to follow, but it's the coach's program to run.

Roster management in a transition period is already tough, but what we're seeing here right now -- and will be seeing for another 20 days yet -- is unprecedented. It's like doing the Charleston in the middle of a minefield and trying not to get blown up.

There are a couple of points to be made about our QBs in general:

* Austin Mack spent a year as a backup, running scrimmages, knowing the coaches and having them learn about his habits, etc. They've seen him operate in live fire against a defense; Sayin has never done that. He was at bowl practices but it never rose to the level of what Mack did at UW.

* When they roll the ball out for the first day of spring practice, Jalen Milroe will be QB1. He may not stay QB1, but someone is going to have to take it from him. I know more than a few Alabama fans who were convinced Julian Sayin was going to be handed the keys to the offense the second the 2024 season started, and that wasn't going to happen under either the former or the current coach.

* None of us are privy to what the Sayins and DeBoer discussed. The pundits are guessing. Regardless, go back up to my first statement: This is DeBoer's ship to pilot. If he wants to clear the entire QB room and rebuild it with transfers, that's his right to do so.

Like Buddy Ryan said, if you listen long enough to the fans, you'll soon be sitting with them.

Can't speak to the Sayin thing but I think the Mack get is brilliant. Gonna be tough trying to teach this system from scratch in the limited practice time college allows. DeBoer went to the same playbook when he brought in Pennix as a transfer to jump start his offense. Really wish Sayin the best but Mack is probably our immediate future due to sheer knowledge of the system.

 

[Snuffy Smith]

One of the more interesting things to me in that video is the number of snaps that he takes off his shoe-tops with relative ease. Would have been a useful skill here at Alabama this past year

 

[JessN]

Can't speak to the Sayin thing but I think the Mack get is brilliant. Gonna be tough trying to teach this system from scratch in the limited practice time college allows. DeBoer went to the same playbook when he brought in Pennix as a transfer to jump start his offense. Really wish Sayin the best but Mack is probably our immediate future due to sheer knowledge of the system.

The other thing about Mack, if I haven't said it already, is that if you want Mack, you had to get him now. You can't say "oh we'll wait until after spring," because Mack was already in the portal and wanted to make his decision before the next spring practice cycle, and you couldn't count on him transferring now AND again once spring concluded.

It wasn't us saying "we need another QB," it was us saying "we want Mack." So if that's the case, you have to get him now, and if makes Sayin go sideways, so be it.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Brock Huard offers scouting report on new Alabama QB commit Austin Mack

Brock Huard can relate to Alabama fans wondering, and possibly worried, about the quarterback situation given all the comings and goings.

www.saturdaydownsouth.com

 

[JohnD]

The other thing about Mack, if I haven't said it already, is that if you want Mack, you had to get him now. You can't say "oh we'll wait until after spring," because Mack was already in the portal and wanted to make his decision before the next spring practice cycle, and you couldn't count on him transferring now AND again once spring concluded.

It wasn't us saying "we need another QB," it was us saying "we want Mack." So if that's the case, you have to get him now, and if make Sayin go sideways, so be it.

That's a great point. DeBoer has very little to go on at this point as to which players he can/cannot trust to stay with him. But I strongly suspect Sayin told them ahead of time that he was going to hit the portal, or leaning strongly toward it.

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

This thing seems to have legs, here's some quotes from an Alabama poster on CFB reddit. I can't view 247 but this should be pretty easy to verify:

John Talty: Feel confident saying that Julian and the family intended/wanted to stay and this is driven much more by DeBoer and staff than by Julian. Unfortunate situation because I'm a huge believer in Julian's talents and think he's going to be a star.

Tom Loy: This. He wanted to stick it out initially and then well, things went south. Shocked to be honest. Sayin is the real deal. I think the new staff will regret this one. Just my opinion.

If anyone can find a screenshot of those posts, then it's pretty much verified. Those two are both plugged in industry insiders.

I've seen more than a few insiders put up info for their own reasons or erroneous reasons..............not saying it aint true, but I think some have their own agendas and some like to spread falsehoods

 

[RammerJammer14]

Looks like Sayin was afraid of competition and didn’t think he could win the job, so he quit. Maybe Bama sees him again in a different jersey and makes him quit again.

Nah. He just doesn’t want to play for Alabama. He came for Saban and I guess doesn’t like our new staff. Whatever.

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

Nah. He just doesn’t want to play for Alabama. He came for Saban and I guess doesn’t like our new staff. Whatever.

One thing is for sure, you cannot make them stay if they dont want to................he didn't want to, so he left. Adios and good luck

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

If you watch his HS tape you can see why CKD wants him - he can sling it. His HS coach trained him well in the nuances of the passing game. He is probably more advanced mentally than any QB on the roster, except for possibly Sayin. He looks like a player. The West Coast has typically been advanced on offense, especially the passing game. He is from California.

Edit: did not know about Sayin leaving. I guess now it is even more obvious. Whatever - this kid looks like a player.

The dude knows the offense that CKD is implementing, so he has a leg up on the rest of the QB room...