Alabama Football: What to Watch for from Blake Sims and Jake Coker in Week 2

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If you’ve been waiting for Jake Coker to play a meaningful snap of football, Saturday is your day.

By all accounts, the Florida State transfer will get to throw his first passes in a Crimson Tide uniform when Alabama faces Florida Atlantic on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium. This, after watching much of the West Virginia game from the sidelines and coming in for only two handoffs to run out the clock.

Coker will split reps with Blake Sims, who played much of that West Virginia game and had a solid debut as a starter. It will be just about everyone’s first time to see the two side by side and will add more fuel to the fire that is Alabama’s quarterback competition (and it is still very much a competition).

So what should we be on the lookout for this weekend?

First, how the reps are actually split.

Saban said on Monday that he hadn’t decided how he would do so (and joked that even when he did, he wouldn’t reveal it). On his radio show Thursday night, he still seemed like he hadn’t made a decision on exactly when Coker would enter the game.

"Now I haven't decided when that's going to be in this game but I'd rather decided that this is how we're going to do it before we ever go out there because that's really the only way you give a guy a fair opportunity,” Saban said, according to Michael Casagrande of al.com. “He knows when he's going to go out there and he can be ready to go out there and we can go from there."

When Coker takes his first snap is still a big question.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

The last time Alabama had a situation like this, against Kent State in 2011, AJ McCarron and Phillip Sims alternated every three drives. McCarron got the start in that game and ended up actually winning the job.

Name	Completions/Attempts	Yards	Touchdowns	INTs
AJ McCarron	14/23	226	1	2
Phillip Sims	7/14	73	0	2

Coker could come in sooner rather than later. The staff got a whole game’s worth of film out of Sims last week and have yet to see anything from Coker. They also, though, don’t want to shake Sims’ confidence by playing Coker the majority of the time after Sims had a worthy debut.

The other question, obviously, is how Coker will actually look when he plays.

It’s one thing to look good in practice, which Coker has, displaying his vaunted arm strength and zip. But it’s another to combine that with understanding the playbook and being able to lead an offense in a game.

Martin Rose/Getty Images

That was the big thing that Sims showed, more or less, in the season opener. He may not necessarily have all of the measurables that Coker has, but he knows the offense and can operate effectively.

Saban saw some of that in 2011, too.

"Really, sometimes in practice, Phillip looked like he would be the best guy," Saban said, per Casagrande. "Then we played them both in the game and AJ played better in the game, so that is what ultimately made our decision to make AJ the starter."

The relative strength, or lack thereof, of the opponent means everything will need to be taken with a grain of salt.

FAU allowed 55 points and 785 yards of offense last week to Nebraska. Alabama should be able to have its way with the Owls (just don’t tell Saban that). It won’t exactly be an accurate barometer for how one or the other would play once SEC competition starts.

But it’s also the reason Alabama has the luxury of being able to play two quarterbacks. Against West Virginia it went with the guy that Saban trusted the most in a power-five game. He got Alabama through and played well in the process.

With a lower-level team up next on the docket, though, the real quarterback competition can begin.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats come from CFBStats. All recruiting information comes from 247Sports.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.