Alabama Football: The next great Crimson Tide quarterback debate
The 2019 Alabama Football recruiting class brought two big-name quarterback signees to Tuscaloosa, and Nick Saban has another quarterback battle brewing.
If anyone missed Nick Saban yelling at the media for asking about the Alabama football starting quarterback, we may have another great quarterback debate coming in the near future. It looks like the 2019 season is set with Tua Tagovailoa behind center, but where does 2020 leave us? Perhaps Tua will stay for his senior season, but if not, Nick Saban will have to name a new starting quarterback.
The 2019 Alabama Football recruiting class has brought two 4-star quarterback signees: Taulia Tagovailoa and Paul Tyson. While Taulia’s older brother has written the Tagovailoa name in Crimson flame, Paul Tyson has quite the family heritage as well as the great-grandson of Paul Bear Bryant. After the family moved from Hawaii, Taulia has spent the year as Thompson High School’s starting quarterback. Paul Tyson faced off against Tagovailoa during their Senior season as Hewitt-Trussville High School’s starting quarterback.
In typical Tagovailoa fashion, Taulia brought Thompson back from a 4-touchdown deficit to go on to beat Hewitt-Trussville 63 to 49 as part of a regular season match-up in October. Tagovailoa left that game with 5 touchdowns total: 3 on the ground and 2 through the air with 152 rushing yards and 264 passing yards. While Hewitt-Trussville came up short, Paul Tyson led Trussville to a 28-0 lead shortly before halftime. He finished the game with 275 yards with 3 touchdowns.
The two powerhouse high school football teams met again for the Class 7A playoff game in November. A much different showing with defenses setting the tone of the game, Thompson won 37 to 13 to advance to the semi-finals to play Hoover. Thompson’s defense gave Paul Tyson fits leading to three interceptions, only 163 yards, and one touchdown. Taulia had a bit of a stronger showing with only 141 yards but two passing and one rushing touchdown.
While Taulia won both match-ups during their Senior year, Paul Tyson is a stud who is doing more than just fulfilling legacy attending Alabama. Taulia serves more as a dual-threat quarterback than Paul Tyson, but as an early enrollee, Paul Tyson is already under the keen eye of quarterback coach Dan Enos. Both quarterbacks will put up a strong competition in fighting for Alabama football’s starting position in 2020 and beyond. The Tyson/Tagovailoa competition will offer some family heritage to accompany their talents, making the debate even more interesting than the original Tua/Jalen debate.
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It’s safe to say Alabama football’s quarterback position is in good hands for the foreseeable future, and it looks like Kirby Smart will have to prepare for both the starter and backup quarterback for many years to come.