A week away from its Sept. 5 season opener against Wisconsin at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Alabama has turned its focus toward the Badgers, who are now led by new coach Paul Chryst. While we eagerly await kickoff, let’s catch up on the five biggest developments of the Crimson Tide’s preseason so far.

1. Nick Saban might be closer to naming his starting quarterback

Earlier this week, ESPN’S Brett McMurphy tweeted that Saban wants two quarterbacks ready and a third on standby for the matchup against Wisconsin among Jacob Coker, Alec Morris and Cooper Bateman. The Tide head coach even said that he could even play more than one quarterback in the game.

Meanwhile, Saban said some nice things about Morris following Alabama’s scrimmage on Aug. 24, which indicates that the redshirt junior might be the most likely candidate to start on opening day:

“Alec has done a nice job all [preseason],” Saban revealed to AL.com. “I think he does a really good job of understanding the offense. He helps the other players play better. And I think that he has probably shown command at the position, which I think is important. We’ve just got to continue to work on touch, accuracy, efficiency. But I’ve been really pleased with what Alec has done in this camp.”

2. Saban has been consistently praising ArDarius Stewart during camp

Stewart, a 6-foot-1, 204-pound sophomore who had 12 catches for 104 yards last season, is hoping to fill one of the vacancies created by the departures of the Crimson Tide’s top three receivers from a year ago.

“I thought ArDarius Stewart had a really good day today,” Saban told AL.com after Alabama’s scrimmage on Aug. 24. “He had eight catches and made some really good catches — adjusted to the ball well, made some contested plays — which was good to see. 

3. Cyrus Jones appears to be the primary kick returner

Jones returned four punts – for 77 yards — and four kickoffs – for 82 yards — for Alabama in 2014.

“He’s got really good judgment, really good hands, running ability, fast and explosive,” Saban recently told Bleacher Report about Jones. “So after that we’re looking at three to four guys to be backups.

4. Alphonse Taylor is in the mix for a starting guard spot.

Taylor, a 6-foot-5, 325-pound junior who has appeared in 20 games and has made two starts for Alabama, has a really good chance to be a first-teamer because center Ryan Kelly and left tackle Cam Robinson are the Tide’s only two returning starters on the O-line.

“Shank has had a really good camp,” Saban recently told AL.com. “I wouldn’t count him out as a guy that could end up being a starter at one of the guards. We feel like we have three really good guards.”

5. Freshman Damien Harris had the most carries in Alabama’s final scrimmage

Saban revealed that Harris got 14 carries, Derrick Henry had eight and Kenyan Drake rushed six times.

“That’s about what we wanted to get out of ’em,” Saban indicated to Bleacher Report. “We wanted to get them banged, we wanted to get Kenyan Drake hit, he hadn’t been hit since the Ole Miss game, so he scrimmaged quite a bit and we wanted five or six carries for him and to play a lot of loose-play downs, which he did.”