Assessing Alabama football's starting quarterback race after start of fall camp

Alabama’s quarterback competition remains unresolved and, because of that, is picking up interest by the day. Regardless, though, BamaOnLine’s Tim Watts is happy to see what’s coming of the battle in Tuscaloosa at the moment.

Watts spoke with On3’s Andy Staples on Sunday night about the Crimson Tide’s QB1 race. He said that there’s still a lot that’s undecided but that there’s a level of competitiveness because of that which should carry over into the season.

“There’s definitely uncertainty but all the uncertainty is not bad,” Watts said. “You have guys pushing. I love the competition edge.”

“I go back and forth. If you asked me tomorrow what I think? I’ll probably tell you a different quarterback than I would today,” admitted Watts. “But I love the fact that they’re battling. And, like you said, this isn’t going to end. Just because you lose the starting job the first game doesn’t mean you’re not going to finish the game out.”

However, after that, Watts dropped a fascinating tidbit from out of Alabama’s quarterback room. For all the talk about Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, and Tyler Buchner, he said it’s Dylan Lonergan, a true freshman and former four-star recruit, that’s earning a lot of buzz out of camp.

“You know what’s funny? I’ve had several people that think Dylan Lonergan might be the best of the bunch,” Watts reported. “I’ve heard this repeatedly that people watching think Dylan has the biggest upside, which could be an amazing story.”

“He looked the part of a quarterback. If there was a movie and they were auditioning somebody? Dylan would have got that role. He looked the part, he rolled out, he was comfortable,” said Watts. “Now I do think a true freshman? He’s not where you want to be in the offense and all that. But the fact that I’ve even heard that from different people that don’t know each other has always been like, ‘Oh man. Wow.’”

Still, as Staples and Watts both pointed out, this year’s race will come down to some order of Milroe, Simpson, and Buchner. The question now might be how long it will take to decide between the three but, to Watts, it’ll be a call that’ll be well worth the wait considering how compelling that the storylines have been around the position this offseason.

“It’s not like Tommy Rees is going to make the final decision alone. There’s not going to be one guy to stand up and name the quarterback,” Watts said. “They’re going to have a lot of people with an opinion in there.”

“Overall, I just love the competition,” said Watts. “I love that we’re talking about the quarterback position because it seems like a long time since we’ve been doing that.”