Nick Saban addresses Florida's QB dilemma, compares it to Tua Tagovailoa-Jalen Hurts debate
Florida is now undecided on one quarterback heading into their third game this weekend. Now, Nick Saban is the latest to give his opinion on that question for the Gators.
Saban spoke about the discussion between Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway during an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. He did preface, though, that he isn’t ready to weigh in fully considering he has only seen their play on the field.
“To be honest with you, because I haven’t been at practice and I’ve only seen Florida play one game. I haven’t really seen the freshman play. I’m not sure which stage of development they’re in and who gives them the best chance to win,” Saban said.
However, Saban does have experience with this kind of quarterback dilemma. Specifically the high-profile battle from just a few seasons ago between Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa. Saban saw it as similar considering how the younger, five-star quarterback in that situation ended up eventually taking the starting job from the proven veteran.
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“Like, you know, when we played Tua and took Jalen Hurts out after he was 26-2 as a starter, we kind of knew that was happening, okay. It just didn’t happen in a moment,” recalled Saban. “You know, Tua was gaining the confidence of the team. The skill guys liked him because he could throw it. The situation came up in a game where we could put him in there.”
As for Mertz vs. Lagway today, Saban says Florida has to consider who is best able to run their attack and run it well with their teammates. That guy is going to get the buy-in more than the other.
“Well, I think you’ve got to make the decision on technical execution. I mean we don’t see these guys practice every day so we don’t know how they’re doing in practice. We don’t know what their inconsistencies are. We don’t really know how well they know the offense. Can they manage the whole offense, do the players that are playing around them have confidence in them?” explained Saban. “You know, all those things are factors in terms of, you know, your team buying into a certain player.”
However, if they both see snaps at points in the games, he stated that Florida must also have a set plan for both players in order for this to work at all. It’ll be key in ensuring that neither one is impaired by a respective decision over the course of a content.
“When you play two quarterbacks, which I hear Florida is going to try to play two quarterbacks, you better clearly define, going into the game, how you’re going to play these guys. It can’t be based on how they’re playing in a game because then you’re going to kill somebody’s morale – either the guy you took out or the guy you put in,” Saban continued. “If you say you’re going to play the first two series and the next guy is going to play the next two series, everybody knows what to expect. Then you’re not going to have any kind of psychological meltdown from somebody just because they made a bad play or they get to play more now because I made a good play. You know exactly what’s going to happen.
“I think that’s really, really important when you’re going to try to play two quarterbacks.”
We’ll have to wait until kickoff tomorrow to see how quarterback will look for Florida. Still, it’s clear that the Gators have to put together a plan to make this happen with either one or both of Mertz and Lagway.
“Billy Napier has to make that decision,” said Saban.