Last season’s rise of Jalen Hurts ultimately led to a mass exodus of quarterbacks in Tuscaloosa. First, it was Blake Barnett, who left for Arizona State just weeks into the season, followed by Cooper Bateman and David Cornwell not long after Barnett. Once Hurts established himself as the answer for Alabama, the other signal callers got the message loud and clear.

Cornwell announced his transfer following the regular season but decided against leaving the team before its Playoff appearances. It was a decision Cornwell didn’t have to make, he could have left the Crimson Tide without a safety net at quarterback in order to get a jump start on learning his next playbook.

Apparently, Cornwell didn’t need that jump start after all, as his new coach at Nevada, Jay Norvell, has declared the former Alabama quarterback as his starting quarterback heading into fall camp. According to Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal, Norvell still needs to see Cornwell earn the job before the season opener against Northwestern.

“David’s the starting quarterback right now and he’ll have to compete and earn that spot throughout training camp and if there’s reason for him not to be (the starting quarterback) we’ll address,” Norvell said during the Mountain West Media Summit. “Until we see that, we won’t make any changes at that position.”

The Oklahoma native left Alabama as a graduate, thus making him eligible to compete immediately for Nevada. He will have two years to play for the Wolfpack. He did not register any stats in his two seasons of play in Tuscaloosa.