•Former Alabama QBs talk about the current duo.
Former Tide QBs give their thoughts on Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts, who have both had tremendous success at Alabama
MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. —
Statistics are kept for Alabama quarterbacks the same as at any other college football program. But the measure of excellence at Alabama goes beyond yards and touchdown passes. It’s about wins and championships.
Both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa have made their mark on the program in recent years. They’ve both been the starter and both been the backup. Hurts was named SEC offensive player of the year in 2016 while Tagovailoa won it this year. They both helped Alabama win a national championship last season, and they take aim at another one this weekend. They have few peers in college football.
But they have historical peers. Alabama’s history of quarterbacks is marked with national championships, All-Americans and legends of years gone by. Here’s what the men who came before Tagovailoa and Hurts said about their season.
Tyler Watts, 1999-2002
“We always try to put people at odds. When there’s competition, it’s ‘nobody likes each other.’ It’s just refreshing to see that within that locker room, one thing remains consistent about football, that it really doesn’t care. They’re looking for the best person to do the job and if someone else has an opportunity to step in to try to complete the deal, then the rest of the team is counting on them to do that. I’ve been caught in that situation before, where when I wasn’t the starter and Andrew (Zow) got hurt, I wasn’t ready to play. I promised myself right there, it was never going to happen again that I was going to be physically and mentally prepared whether or not I ever got another shot. Fortunately for me, a couple weeks later, I got a chance. Well, Jalen had a similar situation. It took him a whole lot longer for that to be realized. He had to wait almost an entire year before he truly had an opportunity to help his team out again. Because of the decision he made after that national championship game, he was prepared to go in for the fourth quarter with his football team down a touchdown and lead them back to not only a conference championship, but potentially a national championship.”
Brodie Croyle, 2002-05
“We’ve got a home for children and we take in orphaned, neglected, abused, abandoned kids. I meet with those kids once a week and have a breakfast, time to share. It was recently there, after (Jalen Hurts) came in against Georgia, and I just told them ‘You know what? When things don’t go your way, put your head down, go to work, do the right thing, be a good teammate, be a good friend, be a good person, and good things tend to happen.’ Man, could not be more happy for him or more proud of him. Never even had the chance to meet him. But just watching him from afar, the way he has handled himself and carried himself, man, what a testament to who he is. Whatever he does in life, he’s going to be amazing at it. To carry that characteristic into any aspect of life is pretty special. The fun part is, you can say the exact same thing about Tua. I’m sure everybody is saying this, but it’s déjà vu from the year before. This guy is the top recruit in the country and he puts his head down and he couldn’t be happier for Jalen and his success. Then his moment came and he seized it. It goes right back to being prepared for your opportunity.
“Man, what a year he’s had. Obviously, people want to ask you a million questions as a former quarterback, ‘What do you see?’ When you talk about Tua, the word I always say is that ‘He’s special.’ He sees thing that not everybody sees. He makes throws that not everybody can make. To me, out of all the things that he’s done, the most impressive to me was after last year’s national championship game. Hadn’t ever really played, gets thrown into that situation but is obviously prepared for it. My wife looks at me after the game and goes ‘Why are you smiling?’ I said ‘Because that kid’s special.’ She’s like ‘Why do you say that?’ I said ‘It isn’t because of the throws that he made.’ Literally, after the biggest moment of his life, he gets a microphone put in his face and that microphone asks the question, ‘What do you see?’ and he immediately follows with, ‘We were in three by one, they were in this coverage, I knew if I could get this guy to step down to this guy, I knew that my outside X receiver was going to win. All I had to do was move the safety and then rip it.’ I said ‘NFL guys can’t articulate what they just saw a lot of times.’ That is just a photographic memory. To be able to articulate what you just saw and why it processed that fast in your head, he’s special. Man, we are blessed as a university to have those two guys on our team.”
Scott Hunter, 1967-70
“That’s something that has to play out. You have a ways to go on (being the best quarterback in school history). Gosh, you have some great quarterbacks way back there. Pretty good ones. But if (Tagovailoa) continues, stays healthy, that’s the big question here, and keeps on producing like he did in the normal course of the season, I think he’d have to be considered right up there. As Dizzy Dean said, ‘I don’t know if I was the greatest, but I was up there amongst them.’ He’d have to be up there amongst them.”
Greg McElroy 2007-10
“I have no problem saying Tua Tagovailoa is definitely the most talented quarterback has had under Nick Saban. That’s not close. That’s not a slight against me or AJ or anyone else. Just Tua is the best quarterback that Alabama has had. You have to defend every part of the field because he can push it over the top, he can work sideline to sideline. Along with some of the philosophy changes that they’ve started to include in the offense, it just makes more guys viable in the progression.”