Alabama football does not have a starting quarterback competition. Tua will play but how he will be used is not yet known.
Throughout Alabama football history, many times a backup quarterback has been labeled a sure fix for any offensive deficiencies. Fan passions sometimes drive this situation into a perceived quarterback controversy.
The 2017 Alabama football team does not have a quarterback controversy. For the first time since 2013, Alabama football has a returning starter at quarterback. That returning starter also happens to have been last season’s SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
Given Jalen Hurts’ impressive freshman season why would anyone suggest a new freshman could press Jalen for the starting role? The answer is that Tua Tagovailoa is not just any highly touted freshman.
Just how good is Tua?
How good is Tua? Kirk McNair of Bama Magazine recently reported this,
"A football coach who is close – very close – to the Alabama situation confided, “It’s like God decided to give all the best quarterback attributes to one person, and it was Tua.”"
McNair has been around the Alabama football program a long time. He is not known for exaggeration. But then, Kirk was reporting and it could be the unnamed coach was exaggerating. Alabama football fans will have to wait and see if the comment was hope or hyperbole.
McNair also provided a good summary of why Tua elicits so much excitement.
"In the A-Day Game, Tagovailoa was 17-29 for 313 yards and 3 touchdowns with 1 interception. Scout.com ranked him the No. 1 dual threat quarterback in the nation and he was named MVP at The Opening and of the Elite 11 competition in 2016."
Before being swept away by the Tua praise, remember his A-Day performance was mostly against the second-team defense. In fact, in limited action against the Alabama football number one defense, Tua was not effective.
It is impossible to predict Tua’s 2017 role or extent of playing time. The only clear clues come from Nick Saban’s statements which indicate Tua is in for more than mop-up duty in 2017. Saban said this on the Finebaum show,
"“I think Tua has to play. I think we need Tua to play. I think there may come a time in the season where Tua has to play. … So if that occurs, he’ll be ready to do it. So we haven’t decided how. But to give him some opportunity to enhance his development as a quarterback by getting some playing time along the way.”"
How much will Tua play?
All of the above leads us back to the question posed in the post title, when and how much? Fall camp scrimmages may provide more clues to answers. Clear answers will not come until the regular season.
By regular season, we mean after September 2. A true freshman quarterback and an unproven right tackle is no combination against the best defense the Tide will face in 2017. Unless of course, Jalen goes down against the Noles.
If that happens Alabama football fans will immediately hope the aforementioned coach comment was not hyperbole.
Next: 30 Great Tide Players who were 3-Star Recruits
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