In the midst of Nick Saban celebrating his sixth national championship, fifth with Alabama, a secondary storyline already began to rise beneath the confetti that was still falling from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Swimming upstream from debates surrounding Saban's status among coaching greats was an all-time favorite among fans and media alike: QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY!
It's not hard to wonder why or how this topic emerged.
Incumbent Jalen Hurts had amassed an incredible 26-2 record as a starter in two seasons at Alabama heading into the title game. Five-star recruit and true freshman Tua Tagovailoa was relegated to mop-up duty for the entire 2017 regular season. It was Tagovailoa, however, that Saban marked as the signal-caller to start the second half and lead the Crimson Tide to a remarkable come-from-behind victory in the National Championship vs. Georgia.
Both Hurts and Tagovialoa said all the right things. Saban remained his cryptic self throughout the off-season, but is there really any debate?
It is almost unanimous that Tagovailoa is the better talent.
Tagovailoa is in the "top one percent," said FAU head coach Lane Kiffin. "His touch is just … when he was in high school, people compared him to Steve Young. Just a unique ability.”
"I recruited Tua out of high school and knew what he could do and it doesn’t surprise me that he did what he did," said Nebraska head coach Scott Frost." "[H]e was pretty obviously better and they had 12 games to figure that out."
Despite Hurts' career record, Tagovailoa puts Alabama in the best position to win.
At the end of the day, that is all Saban cares about. There is no loyalty or sympathy. Saban employs a crude, robotic psyche that is best described with the acronym FYF (the actual term too crude to post here). The detached mentality coarse through Saban's veins when it comes to football and winning a national championship. It is what separates the elite coaches from everyone else.
Mack Brown missed out on Adrian Peterson because he was loyal to Cedric Benson. Urban Meyer, on the other hand, benched returning National Champion starter Cardale Jones for J.T. Barrett, despite Ohio State being ranked first and undefeated. It is one of the reasons why Brown works for ESPN now and Meyer has Ohio State as perennial title contenders.
Tagovailoa comes into 2018 as a sophomore. Most likely he will leave after his junior year and make way for his brother who committed to Alabama in the spring. Saban has just two years remaining on a unique talent very few have ever been fortunate enough to coach.
Hurts knows the game–both on and off the field. He's been with Saban long enough to know this. He has two more years of eligibility and if he wants to play quarterback, he should start to survey his options. At this point, the writing is on the wall. His 4.4 speed would be a dynamic weapon to add to the always dangerous Alabama offense. At QB, though, no one would blame him for transferring. He will still go down in Alabama lore as a national champion. The first black starting quarterback to win a title in Alabama.
It's historic.
In Tuscaloosa, however, and more specifically Saban country, it's not about what you've done, it's about what you can do. In that sense, Hurts' time has already passed.
