Alabama quarterback job still open
Playoff contenders settle on starters
It’s game week across college football, which brings with it a flurry of depth charts and personnel updates that have settled nearly every major quarterback competition across the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Clemson, Florida State, Texas, Southern California and Nebraska are among the teams that have made recent decisions heading into the regular season. However, one notable title contender has yet to make it official: Alabama is deliberating as it prepares for its opener against Louisville.
Allowing the competition to drag into the final days of fall camp does keep junior Jalen Hurts in the fold, which is certainly not the primary focus of Nick Saban’s attention yet remains an important part of the Tide’s deliberations. Losing Hurts would rob Alabama off any depth behind sophomore Tua Tagovailoa, the projected starter. That’s something Saban would like to avoid.
Could it be that Alabama’s staff is waffling between the contenders? Possible, yes, but not likely. The writing has been on the wall since January, when Tagovailoa replaced Hurts at halftime of the championship game and led Alabama to an overtime win against Georgia. For now, the two share the top spot on Alabama’s depth chart, but look for Tagovailoa to join the starters on offense when the Tide get the ball first.
“I think there’s competition whether there’s a depth chart or not or whether we have a slash or not,” Saban said, referring to the forward slash that indicates either could start.
Georgia has also shied away from officially naming its quarterback, though that’s another case of being coy: Jake Fromm might face a challenge from true freshman Justin Fields, but Kirby Smart won’t take the keys to the offense away from a sophomore with Heisman Trophy potential.
A look at how things stand for those that have made their decisions public:
Clemson
The Tigers eventually went with experience in handing the starting job to senior Kelly Bryant, who will get the nod for the opener against Furman. But this seems like a competition that will be renewed on a weekly basis. While Bryant leads now, he’ll need to produce on Saturdays and on the practice field to fend off true freshman Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence will see a good amount of action during what should be an easy win in the opener. A better question: Who will be Clemson’s starter on Nov. 1?
Florida State
Willie Taggart’s first quarterback will be Deondre Francois, who started as a freshman in 2016 and seemed poised to contend for national accolades before injuring his knee in last year’s kickoff against Alabama. If going with Francois isn’t without its risks — he needs to prove he’s back at full strength, for example — the junior still represents a safer pick than James Blackman, who was forced to play a year ahead of schedule last season and would benefit from a year spent watching from the sideline and adjusting to Taggart’s system.
Texas
Sophomore Sam Ehlinger will be the starter for Tom Herman, which should not come as a surprise: Ehlinger allows for a broader use of Herman’s playbook and has a physical style of play that will benefit the Longhorns’ running game. Ehlinger’s fall-forward running style does have him searching for contact, it seems, and injuries have been a concern for the sophomore and junior backup Shane Buechele. But with Ehlinger more versed in the scheme, look for Herman’s offense to start to resemble the system that took off at Ohio State and Houston.
Southern California
Another unsurprising development: JT Daniels will start as a true freshman for USC, as just the second rookie to draw the starting nod in program histo- ry — the other, Matt Barkley, attended the same high school as the Trojans newcomer. Daniels was always the best option for Clay Helton, a fact supported by the uneven play from the two holdovers during the spring. He opted to reclassify to the 2018 recruiting class due in no small part to the void on the depth chart left by Sam Darnold’s move to the NFL. With a strong defense in tow, USC will place its hopes of a Pac-12 Conference title and New Year’s Six bowl berth on Daniels’ shoulders. Whether he’s up for the challenge is another question.
Michigan
Shea Patterson was always going to be Michigan’s starting quarterback, in what speaks both to Patterson’s talent and the dearth of other reliable options at Jim Harbaugh’s disposal. Here’s what’s telling, however: Harbaugh, infamous for issuing nameless depth charts, proclaimed Patterson the starter a week ago. Not once during his tenure with the Wolverines had Harbaugh named his starter before the start of the season. The last quarterback Harbaugh christened this early in August was Andrew Luck at Stanford in 2009. Let the hype build for the Mississippi transfer.
Nebraska
Adrian Martinez will become the first true freshman starting quarterback in Nebraska’s history after he fended off redshirt freshman Tristan Gebbia during a months-long competition to run Scott Frost’s offense. Martinez created some separation with a series of strong scrimmages, which showed Frost and the coaching staff he could be trusted at the controls of college football’s most quarterback-friendly scheme. Look for Martinez to have his down moments but develop over the course of 2018 before taking off on a national scale as a sophomore. A concern is the lack of depth, as Gebbia is likely destined for a transfer and the Cornhuskers will carry no other scholarship quarterback in 2018.