Alabama QBs in 2024, II

[colbysullivan]

Well, i had just had a conversation with someone an hour ago that was at EVERY practice last fall and THIS spring who said that discipline and team unity was really poor and near unmanageable by Saban.

There was no Process last year... Alot of issues with teamwork and immaturity are having to be addressed this spring. Helmet throwing seems to be a favorite showout move within the team.

NIL…

 

[davefrat]

This just shows you how poor the UGA gameplan was...

Could also be a matter of hubris on their part.

 

[JDCrimson]

Kirby Smart (pun intended) is one of the more humble coaches you will ever meet...

Could also be a matter of hubris on their part.

 

[BamaMoon]

No, I don't think there were any media reports of a OL revolt but there were several things that led people to believe there might have been:

1. Saban said many times that the starting QB must win the team.
2. Some of the players ( Booker was one) publicly stated their support for Milroe.
3. When Milroe was benched against USF the OL gave a very poor performance.
4. There was a team meeting following the USF game and at the Monday press conference Saban stated that Milroe will be the starting QB going forward.

These things don't prove there was a mutiny but it really comes down to what was discussed in the team meeting. Was it about the overall poor performance against USF or was the discussion mostly about who the QB should be? None of us will ever know.

It kinda has started to trickle out, but usually it’s a 3-4 year dump of information. Alot of people don’t want to dump on current players and wait a few years to do so.

The problem here is that 80% of the fanbase wants to accept only one of two points. 1) that the team threw the USF game or 2) Simpson and Buchner were just not good as Milroe in 23. But the often overlooked point was that Milroe didn’t play at all that day in South Florida. No one seems to want to know why and just wants to assume Saban was testing his options. The truth is that Milroe was suspended because of his reaction to a heated film study with the offensive staff on his reads during the Texas game. It kinda puts into question why our offense was atrocious the one game that he was suspended.

Idk how involved Milroe was in on the faction of the locker room that supported him but I do know that Saban buried a particular receiver on the depth chart because he was loafing for Buchner during a scrimmage that Buchner and Simpson were doing very well and Milroe couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn.

So to think there wasn’t locker room drama around the quarterbacks especially after Saban himself hinted at it seems like a person is just actively avoiding information just because they don’t believe it. Now to what extent is a different question. What I do know is that I have heard credible people claim it was very bad and credible people say it really was typical drama and the real problem is that all 3 quarterbacks were about equal in terms of risks and rewards so they just went with the guy that had the locker room. But one thing they all agree on was there was locker room drama about who was going to be the quarterback.

Two great posts, IMO.

PA's bullet points paint the picture as well as it can be understood, IMO. Conspiracy theories exist in place of a vacuum. You can choose to believe CNS was fully in control (which he wasn't and it's leaking out now that he wasn't - see post #79 by JD Crimson and many of '81's post) OR you can follow the events that happened and use your common sense. @davefrat CNS definitely said at some point that the team chose Jalen. I don't have the quote saved to offer proof but it was discussed at length on here!

So there's no question that last year there was probably more drama than in all the other years combined. It was the perfect storm of CNS's soft side and uncertainty of when to retire and the NIL/portal storm.

I've thought about it a lot and there's only one thing after the USF game that I think might have allowed this to play out better. Instead of CNS declaring Jalen as starter (this is when he said the team chose Jalen) if CNS would have been honest and said JM had been suspended and also if he would have declared they'd use to next couple of weeks to let JM, TS and TB duke it out in practices and games. But, as it occurred, with the team not trying in the USF gave and then JM being "given" the starting role back by the team choosing him, it just gave off a terrible look and feel for the season unfolding.

If JM would have simply dominated and played unbelievably those of us who have been labeled "anti-Jalen" would not have had a "leg to stand on" in regards to our objective pushback of his skills or lack thereof. But because he struggled and we were barely able to beat mid-level SEC teams AND because CTR had to dumb down the offense (call it what you want to call it but that's what we did - we simplified the offense so Jalen could hopefully run it better) it just left a very unsatisfied feeling that even if TS would have been a better option as the season went on that he would have never been given the opportunity because JM had been crowned as the favorite among the OL and the media played along to act as if he was the greatest thing since sliced bread even though the results on the field proved otherwise.

 

[BamaMoon]

If you want to know how in the world we beat Georgia in the SEC championship amid all this season upheaval you have to ask yourself why you believe in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny???

Sometimes magic happens despite reality.

It was almost like the "football gods" wanted to foil a Georgia three-peat and allow CNS to have one more day in the sun before he retired at season's end.

One of these days a long, long time from now, our grandchildren will ask us if Bama really beat Georgia that day for CNS's last SEC championship and we'll be able to set them in our lap and say "Yes, it may be hard to believe but I saw it with my own eyes."

To me, that's how unlikely and unfathomable it was that we beat Georgia on that day considering all the selfish drama of the season.

 

[JDCrimson]

It's not really whether it's JM or TS as QB1, its really the undiscipline on the OL that came home too roost last year and has to be resolved this year.

In this same conversation from an hour ago the Marrone hire wrecked our program...

 

[CrimsonBloodn62]

If you want to know how in the world we beat Georgia in the SEC championship amid all this season upheaval you have to ask yourself why you believe in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny???

Sometimes magic happens despite reality.

It was almost like the "football gods" wanted to foil a Georgia three-peat and allow CNS to have one more day in the sun before he retired at season's end.

One of these days a long, long time from now, our grandchildren will ask us if Bama really beat Georgia that day for CNS's last SEC championship and we'll be able to set them in our lap and say "Yes, it may be hard to believe but I saw it with my own eyes."

To me, that's how unlikely and unfathomable it was that we beat Georgia on that day considering all the selfish drama of the season.

We only beat Georgia and made the playoffs because of our defense. If Petey had been the DC last year, we would have probably finished barely above 500.

 

[BamaMoon]

We only beat Georgia and made the playoffs because of our defense. If Petey had been the DC last year, we would have probably finished barely above 500.

The OL won that game. They played like the 2012 OL that day.

That's why it doesn't make any sense.

 

[Tidelines]

I don't buy it. That performance could have been a really bad day -- they happen, SEE Florida State/Alabama in 1974 -- instead of some kind of revolt.

It's unfathomable to me that something would not have leaked out of the locker room to confirm any conspiracy among the players rather than a truly awful performance by a team coming off a disheartening loss that was also searching for a quarterback and an identity.

Anyone who has ever put on shoulder pads knew what was going on that day.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

I think people are adding up bits like the unexpected scratch of a starting lineman, the abysmal blocking effort, even by that line’s standards, and the fact that every Saban team has managed to out talent teams like that to a much higher score. Jase had a “terrible” game and missed some plays, and when parts of the second string came in the offense moved a little better.

I’m kind of torn in regards to whether it is true or not. I’d like to think these guys would give their all individually in the name of the team, but I’m realistic enough to know things and people aren’t always what I’d like them to be.

That's pretty much where I'm at. Is that something Saban would stand for? I wouldn't think so, but i guess if things are really as out of control behind the scenes (everywhere , not just Bama) as they say with regards to the player attitude aspect of NIL, he may not have had much of a choice. And then to be fair, he did retire right after the season.

The USF game was really bad, maybe even the worst game of the Saban era. I don't think the ULM game was quite as bad, simply because it was year 1. The USF game was so bad that it jacked up our metrics in just about every predictive model out there, for the rest of the season. The whole offense just looked awful, and they never played that badly again. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's the only thing I can think of that makes that game make sense.

 

[92tide]

I have no idea what caused the crap effort by the OL in the USF game.

my thought about that game was that it was a massive hangover by an immature team after crapping the bed in a spectacular way and getting pushed around at home after running their mouths about how tough they were going to be this year.

 

[BamaMoon]

my thought about that game was that it was a massive hangover by an immature team after crapping the bed in a spectacular way and getting pushed around at home after talking about how tough they were going to be this year.

I could buy that explanation if they just looked asleep/disinterested/whatever after the 1st quarter or even first half, but it went on the whole game! Almost every time something like what you describe happens, at some point, they'll snap out of it and just destroy that team from that point to the end of the game.

I've watched Bama football now for almost 50 years and I've never seen a Bama team lay down like that team did that game!!!

FWIW, I don't think TS got enough credit for manning up to absorb those hits and taking the team on his back to lead us to a win.

 

[92tide]

I could buy that explanation if they just looked asleep/disinterested/whatever after the 1st quarter or even first half, but it went on the whole game! Almost every time something like what you describe happens, at some point, they'll snap out of it and just destroy that team from that point to the end of the game.

I've watched Bama football now for almost 50 years and I've never seen a Bama team lay down like that team did that game!!!

FWIW, I don't think TS got enough credit for manning up to absorb those hits and taking the team on his back to lead us to a win.

being in a funk can be contagious

i came away from that game relatively impressed with ts.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

my thought about that game was that it was a massive hangover by an immature team after crapping the bed in a spectacular way and getting pushed around at home after running their mouths about how tough they were going to be this year.

Very possible. Either way, regardless of the reason, the effort and performance was inexcusable and hopefully that tye of "stuff" is behind us.

 

[AlexanderFan]

Very possible. Either way, regardless of the reason, the effort and performance was inexcusable and hopefully that tye of "stuff" is behind us.

The defense forgot to be in a funk.

 

[BamaMoon]

The defense forgot to be in a funk.

Yeah, it wasn't the whole team. Seemed to be the OL and RBs.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

The defense forgot to be in a funk.

The defense was cut from a higher quality cloth. They never quit or got in their feelings.

 

[TiderJack]

I guess we can say it was heresay and rumor mill since no direct documentation and until somebody on the team or staff says it was true it will stay that way IMO. Anyway, it was last year and we have a bright future one way or the other moving forward.

 

[AlexanderFan]

Yeah, it wasn't the whole team. Seemed to be the OL and RBs.

That’s the best part of this whole discussion: just enough substance to go either way.

 

[Cruloc]

More along the lines of both play primarily as drop-back passers with good wheels. It’s not a Chris Leak / Tim Tebow situation where you have two distinctly different styles of play.

Except Milroe is not a drop back passer.