Alabama Fall Position Preview: Quarterbacks

was still the appointed man to lead the Tide offense, but he found himself starting all over in a sense, learning a new offense under a new coach. Reports from the spring were promising, and it appears that Wilson and McElwain are gelling. On the field, not only is Wilson comfortable with the playbook, but he has improved on his footwork and perhaps more importantly, his confidence.

While the new offense isn’t a total makeover, the things that the quarterback is asked to do, differs from last season. Back-up quarterback Greg McElroy described it like this, “Quarterbacks really needed to see the whole field in last year’s offense… This year, everything is isolated. You know where you’re going to look each play. It makes our progressions just a little bit easier.” While a successful spring doesn’t always translate into a successful fall, the Alabama offense appears to be in good hands, and Wilson, according to Saban, is the best player to lead it.

Last fall Wilson started all 13 games, and finished the year 255 of 462 (55%), for 2846 yards, setting Crimson Tide records for pass completions and passing yards in a season. He threw for 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Heading into his senior year, he is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the conference, and has been named to the Maxwell Award Watch List, an award given to the College Player of the Year. While Wilson certainly isn’t a favorite to take home the trophy, it says a lot about his ability and potential to be named to the pre-season watch list.

The job of backing Wilson up will likely belong to sophomore Greg McElroy (6-3, 218). McElroy didn’t see much action last year, certainly not the amount that Saban would have liked for him to see. He finished the year 8 of 9 through the air, with 1 touchdown and no interceptions, and all of that came in the first game of the season against Western Kentucky. Though he has seen only limited live game action, McElroy appears to be a serviceable back-up who could run this offense if called upon.

The third quarterback on the chart could very well be true freshman,Star Jackson (6-3, 195)

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