It’s still the biggest story out of Alabama this week, even if it was somewhat expected.

The transfer of backup quarterback Blake Barnett has dominated headlines. Given all of the injuries on the team this season — and starting QB Jalen Hurts hasn’t been immune to them either — it’s a mild surprise Barnett didn’t stick it out for the remainder of the season.

This isn’t uncharted territory for the program. Phillip Ely transferred to Toledo, Alec Morris transferred to North Texas, Phillip Sims transferred to Virginia (and later Winston Salem State) and Luke Del Rio transferred to Oregon State and later Florida.

Three of the four carried modest expectations. Ely transferred because he was buried deep in the depth chart, Morris stuck around until his final year of eligibility and Del Rio came to the program as a walk-on. Sims battled for the starting job with AJ McCarron but lost out, transferring following the 2011 championship season. In all four cases, the quarterbacks waited until the end of the season to transfer.

Had Barnett waited until the completion of the season, competing for a second straight national championship in just two years, his transfer would have been a surprise to no one.

As the season progressed, it’s only become clearer Jalen Hurts has won over his teammates as the leader of the offense. This was Alabama’s problem at quarterback: four guys capable of being starters with one highly touted recruit slated to join the group next year. Now, the number drops to three.

Sure, Barnett has a reasonable plan to earn playing time next season. Transferring to a JUCO school gives him immediate starting experience before settling into a starting job next season at a major Power 5 school (or perhaps an Independent like Notre Dame). Obviously, Barnett is thinking ahead toward an NFL future.

However, was there any concern NFL scouts might ask how he could leave his teammates in the middle of the season?

“I understand that only one guy can play quarterback although we’ve had pretty significant competition at that position, and both guys have played quite a bit and have done good things at times,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said at his press conference on Wednesday, earlier stating he had no knowledge of a final decision from Barnett. “I try to make (players) aware of the consequences of the decisions that they make and offer some experiences that we’ve had in the past and try to get them to make the value decision for their future. Sometimes we agree on that and sometimes we don’t, but it’s everybody’s choice to make in terms of what they do.”

On Thursday, Saban issued a formal statement in which he expressed disappointment in Barnett’s decision to leave the program but also wished Barnett well.

In looking back at Alabama’s recent quarterback history, Barnett is somewhat of an anomaly with respect to highly touted quarterbacks. Sims did transfer at the end of his second season. However, going back to 2009, Alabama’s starting quarterbacks sat out at least two years before earning the starting job.

Greg McElroy sat three years, and then started his final two years, winning a national championship. McCarron sat his first two years before starting his final three and winning two national championships. Blake Sims sat out his first three seasons before earning the starting job his senior season. Jacob Coker, while he was expected to earn the starting job in 2014 and didn’t, sat out one year at Alabama and four previous seasons at FSU before earning the starting job his final season at Alabama and winning a national championship.

The fact is, young quarterbacks just don’t have the same patience today. There is a reason true freshman Josh Rosen started ahead of redshirt junior Jerry Neuheisel last season at UCLA. The same holds true for Jacob Eason starting ahead of redshirt senior Greyson Lambert. To not play them risks losing them to another program.

Saban later added, “The guys that put the team first are the most important thing right now in terms of us being a better team.”

In other words: Farewell, Blake Barnett. We hope you win a starting job at another program and do well as long as it’s not another SEC program. Now we must turn our attention to attempting the difficult task of repeating as national champions.