Alabama Football: Will Tide see JT Daniels this Saturday?

Will Alabama football see Georgia’s backup quarterback for a change?

We are used to having a certain narrative when Alabama football plays against the Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia plays strong for at least the first half of the game. Whether it be due to benching or an injury, the backup quarterback takes over for the Crimson Tide in the second half. The rest is history. However, Georgia might be looking to flip the script against Alabama this Saturday.

Georgia’s quarterback situation has been a question mark ever since Jake Fromm entered the NFL Draft. The first answer was supposed to be Jamie Newman, but he opted out of the 2020 season. JT Daniels was another star transfer, but he hasn’t taken a snap in a game due to his inability to play at the beginning of the year. That left Georgia with freshman D’Wan Mathis to start the season, and his struggles forced Georgia to turn to Stetson Bennett.

Bennett has been a decent starting quarterback so far against inferior opponents, but he is limited as both a passer and an overall athlete. Alabama’s defense is easily one of the worst in the SEC, but Georgia will still need an elite performance to keep up with Alabama football’s potent offense.

Because of this, might we see a change at quarterback at some point in this game? As far as we can tell, Bennett will start for Georgia. If he struggles to keep up, I think it will depend more on if Daniels is ready as opposed to if he is the better option.

Kirby Smart brought in JT Daniels despite having Jamie Newman for a reason. He was believed to be the best quarterback available. Assuming that Daniels is healthy, that should still be the case.

With all that being said, I think that the game plan is simple for Kirby Smart and the Georgia offense. In this one, they will start with what they know. They will play Stetson Bennett. If Bennett can do what is necessary to keep Georgia in this game, then they will stick with him. If he shows any signs of weakness, Georgia will put in Daniels.

It wouldn’t be ideal for Daniels’ first plays after his injury to be against in the biggest game of the college football season, but it also wasn’t ideal for Alabama to play Tua in the second half of the national championship game. Sometimes, you have to roll the dice. Kirby Smart has failed to roll the dice in the past with Justin Fields, but he might have learned from his mistakes.

If Georgia decides to roll out Daniels in the second half, Alabama football will definitely need to see more from their defense. It will also take a bigger performance from Mac Jones. Watch out for these things this Saturday.