Saban: Alabama QB competition will continue even after starter is named

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama has now participated in three preseason practices, and just like Nick Saban said after the first day of fall camp, the Crimson Tide quarterback battle hasn’t been decided. But even when a starter separates himself for the beginning of the 2023 campaign, the competition behind center won’t end, the head coach said at Alabama’s Media Day.

“I think that they all have an opportunity to compete for the job, but this job that you all talk about at quarterback – I told our quarterbacks, ‘Fall camp is not the beginning of the end,’” Saban said. “‘You’ve got an opportunity to separate yourself, to show that you can play with consistency and play winning football at the position.’

“But that competition goes on and on and on, and we need all of the quarterbacks to continue to improve and continue to compete even far beyond the time that we name a starter.”

Three quarterbacks are currently competing for the Tide’s starting job with Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson back from last year’s team and Tyler Buchner entering the mix after spring drills after starting three games at Notre Dame a season ago. Milroe and Buchner both have starts under their belts, with the former stepping in for Bryce Young when he was injured last year.

Players need to be ready for whenever injuries occur, although Alabama hasn’t had a lot of bad injury luck at the quarterback position. It has, however, made changes at the position, with the most well-known instance happening at halftime of the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game as Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts and won in overtime.

That situation was unique, but the point is whoever starts the Crimson Tide’s opener may not be the guy for the rest of the season, month or even game. All three players need to be ready.

“We’ve had circumstances around here where quarterbacks have changed during the course of the year,” Saban said. “You know what they are, you understand the history of what’s happened at this place. So that’s going to be the way this situation is. Somebody needs to separate themselves, and then I want all the players to continue to compete so that they can improve so that if they do get an opportunity to play, they’re going to be ready to play and play well.”

Buchner was brought in to add competition after the spring, and both Saban and new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees believe competition is a good thing for the quarterback room. Rees, in his first media availability since joining the Alabama program, discussed how competing against one another will bring out the best in individuals and “add an extra layer of development.”

“I think one thing we’re trying to get the whole quarterback room to understand is when one guy has success, first of all, we need to look at it as shared success,” Rees said. “We need to look at it as the group. Like we wanna leave practice saying, ‘The quarterback position, the quarterback group had a good day.’

“The other thing we wanna see is when one quarterback has success, it’s going to challenge the rest of the group. And when we can do that, it’s gonna raise the level play in the room. We don’t wanna look at it and shy away from it. We wanna look at it as an opportunity to improve the entire group.”

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