Why No News Is Good News for Alabama Regarding Quarterback Competition

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Because University of Alabama officials are known for milking every last dollar out of the revenue streams stemming from Crimson Tide football, they might look back on the 2015 training camp and see a missed opportunity.

The school could have sold the quarterback competition as a month-long television show, complete with Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin handing a football to the ones who survived to the next week or stage, and those eliminated relegated to the scout team and reserve duty.

Considering the way Crimson Tide fans have been clamoring to find out anything and everything they can about who might be in the lead, it could have potentially drawn huge ratings locally and helped pay for whatever facility improvements Nick Saban wants next.

OK, maybe not. But things still played out about as well as coaches could have hoped.

After two-plus weeks of camp, the second of two preseason scrimmages was played at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, and all indications afterward were that there’s nothing new regarding the quarterbacks.

Saban didn’t proclaim a winner between senior Jake Coker, junior Alec Morris, sophomore Cooper Bateman, redshirt freshman David Cornwell and true freshman Blake Barnett, and he wasn't expected to.

The coach did the same thing last year. It was only much later that he indicated Blake Sims had essentially won the job during the final scrimmage. Saban didn’t reveal who would start against West Virginia in Atlanta until two days beforehand.

Like usual, Saturday’s scrimmage was closed to media, and the school didn’t make any players available to reporters or release any statistics other than what Saban revealed during his press conference.

“I think Bateman had 27 throws, Morris had 21, Coker had 26, Barnett had 11,” Saban said. “So we tried to give everybody some opportunity, and we will evaluate how they are doing.”

For the second-straight press conference, Saban didn’t mention Cornwell, whose stock has obviously dropped since the spring. That Barnett had fewer pass attempts than the older players was also notable.

The only quarterback Saban subsequently commented on without being prompted was Coker.

“Jake missed three days in practice this week, so the other guys got a few more reps during the course of the week,” he said. “But I thought he did a decent job today, taking that into consideration.”

Coker had been sidelined by a toe injury. It’s still unclear how the injury occurred.

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Saban didn’t answer a question about how the quarterbacks were used (i.e., who saw time with the first unit or might have faced the first-team defense, etc.), but he did about Morris:

“Alec has done a nice job,” Saban said. “I think he does a really good job of understanding the offense; he helps the other players play better. And I think that he has probably shown command at the position, which I think is important.

“We’ve just got to continue to work on touch, accuracy, efficiency. But I’ve been really pleased with what Alec has done in this camp.”

Saban mentioned that he’s looking for more precision in the passing game in general and singled out wide receiver ArDarius Stewart for praise: “He had eight catches and made some really good catches—adjusted to the ball well, made some contested plays, which was good to see.”

So apparently no one took the “bull by the horns” as Saban had hoped, but that doesn’t mean things didn’t go well during camp.

• Everyone got a lot of work in as both scrimmages were pass-heavy, in part due to not wanting to open the season with a group of banged-up running backs. There was very little movement at the other offensive positions as Alphonse Taylor may have been the only other player to win a starting job during camp at right guard.

• None of the quarterbacks suffered a major injury. Actually, Alabama hasn’t had many at all, with Saturday’s setbacks limited to tackles Dominick Jackson (strained shoulder) and Korren Kirven (sprained knee). Both could be back in a few days.

• The coaches started to develop Alabama’s quarterbacks of the future, especially Barnett.

• Although it appears to be between Coker and Morris to start against Wisconsin in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 5 (8 p.m. ET, ABC), the coaching staff would probably be comfortable playing any of the top three quarterbacks, Bateman included. The old saying, “If you have two starting quarterbacks, you don't have one,” hasn’t come into play.

• Alabama avoided having the kind of drama one can easily find on bad reality TV or potentially split the team.

That alone made the Crimson Tide’s training camp a success.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.