Alabama's Jacob Coker ​Will Finally Live Up to Expectations in 2015

ARLINGTON, Texas — Nick Saban said he didn’t make up his mind until Thursday, Jake Coker wasn’t told about it until meeting with the coach on Friday and the players weren’t exactly sure who would be behind center for the start of Saturday night’s game against Wisconsin until they began warming up.

Regardless, it was a pretty impressive debut as a starting quarterback, as Coker completed 15 of 21 passes for 213 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, and then sat down late in the third quarter of No. 3 Alabama’s 35-17 victory at AT&T Stadium.

“He did a really good job,” Saban said. “I thought he was accurate with the ball, he didn’t make any poor decisions. He didn’t put the ball into coverage anywhere, did a nice job of executing what we wanted him to do. It created balance in our offense, which was really, really good.”

After a long and lengthy buildup about the competition between five quarterbacks, Saban never made an announcement about who would start the season opener—not only to the media, but to the players.

“I was the only person he told and no one else knew,” Coker said. “I kept it a secret. My parents knew, but they didn’t tell anybody.”

Nevertheless, his teammates had a pretty good idea who Saban would give the ball to like a starting pitcher, because not only was Coker the right choice, he was really the only choice.

Although he wasn’t able to pin down the job through the spring and the summer, Coker was still the most steady of the competitors for the job and the only one of them to have attempted a pass in a college game.

He has the most experience, showed the most poise and had a firm grasp of the offense.

“I think it was probably the hardest competition that I’ve ever seen, for one position,” senior center Ryan Kelly said. “All of those guys battling, every guy had a good day, a bad day. They just came back and were relentless, day after day and just kept going at it.

“I can’t say enough about the quarterbacks that we have here, even the guys who didn’t play tonight.”

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Obviously true freshman Blake Barnett had never even been on a sideline during a game, but he has impressed coaches enough that he’s not being talked about as an automatic redshirt. Redshirt freshman David Cornwell appeared to emerge as Coker’s biggest challenger in the spring, but he fell off during camp.

About 10 days ago, junior Alec Morris became the strongest contender, followed by sophomore Cooper Bateman.

They both played in relief. Running an offensive style that was very similar to what Blake Sims executed a year ago, Bateman completed seven of eight passes for 51 yards, and Morris came in for mop-up duty.

But when Alabama drove 90 yards on six plays on its second possession, there was little doubt about Coker’s ability to lead the offense and which team would win the game.

“We all came together and got a feel for everything,” Coker said. “After that second drive, I think we just got more comfortable.”

Of course, Coker transferred in last year from Florida State with hopes of winning the starting job only to lose out to Sims. He, in turn, set numerous Alabama passing records including total yards in a single game (against Florida) and single-season passing yards.

In 14 starts, Sims passed for 3,487 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and he led the Crimson Tide both to the Southeastern Conference championship and into the inaugural college football playoffs.

But Coker’s first start was better statistically, finishing with a 172.3 passer rating despite facing a ranking opponent.

“He did awesome,” senior linebacker Reggie Ragland said. “He managed the game as he was supposed to, he made the throws that he needed to make and did the checks. I think everyone’s going to back him after that for the whole season.”

Coker is just the fifth player since 2007 to start a game at quarterback for the Crimson Tide, joining John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy, AJ McCarron and Sims. During that time span, Saban has never had a quarterback miss a start due to an injury.

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However, he did at his previous coaching stop in college football, LSU. Matt Mauck was lost for the season in 2002 and had injury issues the following year. Marcus Randall began the 2004 season as the starter only to eventually give way to JaMarcus Russell.

Even after the victory, Saban wasn’t ready to name Coker the starter yet, especially since Alabama has a big matchup with Ole Miss in two weeks and the coach isn’t about to start making things easier on the Rebels. 

But Saturday night clearly belonged to Coker, who called his first start since high school “pretty unbelievable” and “surreal,” and with good reason, as it was a long time coming.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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