As spring ball wraps up and the season is still about four months away, this is easily the worst time of the year on the football calendar. With nothing to preoccupy our minds, we tend to get wrapped up in overreactions from spring football such as position battles or transfer speculations. After a busy winter transfer portal window for the Alabama Crimson Tide due to Nick Saban’s retirement, the spring window was fortunately pretty slow with only a handful of departures, however, position battles are wide open.
Quarterback Ty Simpson had a really strong spring camp as well as transfer Austin Mack who came over with head coach Kalen DeBoer from the Washington Huskies. However, Chris Low of ESPN argues that the biggest overreaction in Tuscaloosa is that a QB controversy is brewing. Low says of the Tide,
“Let’s pump the brakes on a quarterback controversy looming in Tuscaloosa as Kalen DeBoer takes over for Nick Saban as Alabama’s coach. The Tide staff loved what they saw this spring from Ty Simpson and the steps he took. He was much more decisive in his decision-making and played with more confidence than he did last spring and preseason when he was competing for the starting job. But Alabama’s starter unequivocally remains Jalen Milroe, who was the key to Alabama’s transformation a year ago from an above-average team to a playoff team. Milroe should thrive in DeBoer’s system and has a year of experience to build on as a second-year starter. The best news for the Crimson Tide is that they have two quarterbacks they believe in, and that’s always comforting going into a season.”
It will take some time for Kalen DeBoer’s offense to be fully integrated to the Alabama players, but returning a starting quarterback like Jalen Milroe through the coaching transition is absolutely massive. Milroe is the highest-returning Heisman vote-getter from a season ago and looks to take a massive step forward in DeBoer’s QB-friendly offense.
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