2/16/2024 0 Comments Alabama football number“DO NOT DECLARE THE END OF THE ALABAMA DYNASTY,” the warnings scream. Most of us who cover college football for a living have a chip in our heads that issues forth all manner of lights and sirens and warnings when the mere thought of a dip in success for Alabama football crosses our minds. Needless to say, that does not inspire confidence that Alabama’s streak of future NFL starters will continue.Īgain: This doesn’t mean Alabama will be bad in 2023. Buchner probably hasn’t been promised the starting job because Saban doesn’t make such promises. He’s bringing in the QB he recruited only a few months ago. So Rees isn’t bringing in his handpicked QB. Wake Forest star Sam Hartman had entered the transfer portal instead of entering the draft, and six days after the Gator Bowl, Hartman announced he had chosen to play at Notre Dame in 2023. But while Buchner was playing for the Fighting Irish against the Gamecocks in Jacksonville, rumors were swirling that Notre Dame might have a different starter once 2023 dawned. If this was the entire story - OC’s starting QB follows him to a new location - then it wouldn’t seem like such a red flag for a program that expects to compete for national titles annually. Pyne entered the transfer portal prior to the Gator Bowl, so Buchner returned to action and completed 18 of 33 passes for 273 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions in a win against South Carolina. But a shoulder injury sidelined Buchner, and Drew Pyne took over. Current Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, who came to Tuscaloosa from Notre Dame in February, chose Buchner as Notre Dame’s opening day starter in 2022. So the Tide sought more help.īuchner makes sense on a lot of levels. Freshmen Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan just got to Tuscaloosa from high school in January. Ty Simpson, a five-star recruit from the 2022 class, didn’t win it. Jalen Milroe, who started one game as Bryce Young’s backup in 2022, didn’t win it. “We felt like we needed to add some competition in the room.” In other words, nobody on the roster won the job this spring. “We wanted to give our quarterbacks in our program every opportunity to win the job in spring practice,” Saban told Davis. The program that has made a habit of having first-rounders waiting in the wings essentially admitted it may not have its guy at the most important position on the field.Ĭhatting with host Rece Davis on the ESPN set, Saban said that in not so many words. On Thursday, Alabama plucked likely Notre Dame backup Tyler Buchner out of the transfer portal. Following the Crimson Tide’s spring game Saturday, none of Alabama’s four scholarship QBs felt like an obvious 2023 starter. Seven seasons of future NFL starting QBs - with succession plans that allowed the chain to stay unbroken - can spoil even the most spoiled program, which is probably why what we saw Saturday, combined with what happened Thursday, felt so shocking. (At least until Lamar Jackson agreed to a bigger one with the Ravens on Thursday.) Even by the standards of a program that has won six national titles since 2009, this is a remarkable streak. Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts - the Alabama starter Tagovailoa supplanted at halftime of the national title game following the 2017 season - was selected by the Eagles in the second round in 2020 and recently signed the richest contract in NFL history. All rights reserved.Before Young, Mac Jones went No.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |