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Despite a poor finish to his first season on campus, Jalen Hurts’ starting role with Alabama is not in jeopardy heading into 2017. Even the usually tight-lipped Nick Saban admitted as much in his introductory spring press conference, saying the goal for the offense moving forward was to improve the overall effectiveness of the passing game and noting the team had two players it hopes to simply be ready to backup Hurts come the fall.
So far, it appears the Tide are well on the way to accomplishing those goals this spring.
Check out these tweets from David Womack, father of Alabama offensive lineman Matt Womack. David was in Tuscaloosa over the weekend to view Alabama’s first scrimmage of the spring and apparently came away very impressed with true freshman Tua Tagovailoa. The elder Womack even went so far as to suggest the Tide have a ‘QB race’ on its hands.
1st team offense has scored 3 times really looking good. Back up QB drove one down the field. Looked good.
— David Womack (@Womack77RTR) April 8, 2017
I think we have a QB race. #13 freshman QB can sling the ball. #RTR
— David Womack (@Womack77RTR) April 8, 2017
Those sentiments praising Tagovailoa were also backed up by Mitch White of Mississippi State site Gene’s Page.
Saw that freshman QB from Hawaii that signed with Alabama yesterday…. He's going to be a problem for opposing teams to say the least.
— Mitch White (@m_white14) April 9, 2017
The true freshman from Hawaii may prove to be too good to keep off the field for long in Tuscaloosa. Does this change the status of Hurts as the entrenched starter moving forward? Probably not but it has to be comforting knowing Tagovailoa is now on the roster and appears well on his way to backing up Alabama’s dynamic quarterback.
Follow Michael Wayne Bratton / SEC Mike on Twitter.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
