Paul Finebaum believes the most intriguing spring game across the SEC is the one at Alabama, he said on Monday morning on his regular appearance on WJOX in Birmingham, Alabama.

Finebaum said he’s not crazy about what he’s hearing from Nick Saban or anyone else about the quarterback play between Ty Simpson and Jalen Milroe. Finebaum said on “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” that he wouldn’t be at all surprised if the busiest man in the portal looking for a QB is Saban.

Still being in the mix with a late portal addition is up for debate, and will determine whether the consensus between fans and media is that Alabama is still in the national championship race.

“On the low end of Alabama, I think they’re in the top 5 or 6,” Finebaum said. “And that really depends on how you populate Ohio State and USC and Michigan, maybe Clemson. Maybe throw somebody else in there, whether it’s Penn State or somebody else.”

There’s still work to be done, and the spring game ahead, so Finebaum has temporarily paused his full opinion. But it doesn’t appear that things are in a great place from what he’s heard.

“A week can change a lot, I don’t think it’s going to change the internals, it may change the externals,” Finebaum said. “We may get out there on Saturday and Milroe or Simpson looks great in a very limited, controlled situation and you’re getting blown up at 7:30 next Monday morning about fans saying what are you talking about, we’ve got a great quarterback. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

A unique position

This is such a unusual situation for Alabama to be in given the last several years where 2 losses is cause for major concern and for Saban to lobby the committee to include the Crimson Tide. Because of the recruiting of the last 4 quarterbacks, this position has become an after thought, and all but a plug and play scenario that fans and media have taken it for granted.

Throw in a new offensive coordinator, and this could eventually add to the narrative that Saban is seeing his window close at Alabama, a line of analysis Finebaum used extensively last season.

The spring game will reveal something, perhaps not all the information, but we won’t know the full scope of the situation until Sept. 9 when Texas rolls into town and the Tide have a test. There will be endless comparisons to Bryce Young given his heroics in that game last year, and the fall out from that came could shape the conversation around Alabama for the rest of the season.