Re: Alabama QB competition article (ALL QB posts here, please)
There's plenty of substance that cries out who the QB is - all of it coming from Saban himself; what he says he is looking for.
Agreed. If you really listen to Saban, he's surprisingly forthcoming on this sort of thing. He's said nothing to indicate Jalen, and a lot to indicate Tua.
I can see no logical reason why Jalen would get more snaps than Tua. If he wants to transfer to a program where he can be the full-time starter, I really can't see a logical reason why Jalen would get any at all.
If both the Hurtses (parents are way too involved here) and Saban have made their decisions, just save Jalen for the possibility of injury. Even in that case, I'm not sure that Mac Jones isn't a better backup for the kind of offense Saban wants to run. Jones is no runner, and I have no idea how the rest of the team perceives him. But I think he's probably a better passer now than Jalen is.
If Jalen does get the majority of snaps and there's no injury involved, it will be an interesting game. Thing is, Louisville's defense is just the kind he can exploit -- a porous one with little physicality. So if he plays a lot, his stats will look good.
As many here have stated, Jalen's issue is with good defenses who force him to win the game with his arm, by crowding the line, selling out to stuff the run. There aren't many that can do that, but the ones that matter can, and have, starting with the LSU game of 2016.
Tua's no turnover machine. But he does accept risks that Jalen just won't. In fact, I think his incredibly low interception rate is actually too low -- reflective of foregone opportunities in the name of safety.
Kind of like stashing your retirement savings into cash when you're in your 30s. True, you'll never take a loss in the stock market. But you'll also miss on massive opportunities, and your net result will be far worse than if you'd accepted a little risk in order to get a ton of gain. That doesn't mean you go ridiculously in the opposite direction, putting your nest egg into penny stocks. It just means that you
manage risk, as opposed to trying to
eliminate it.
Risk management is smart. Risk elimination is actually hugely counter-productive.
