If I'm a graduate transfer quarterback, why would I even consider Alabama?
I’m not sure I understand.
Yes, I understand that few people on this planet are better at selling 18-22 year-old kids than Nick Saban. Yes, I understand that Alabama has the best yearly chance to win a national championship, and being a part of that would be special. And yes, I understand that being able to call myself an “Alabama quarterback” for the rest of my life would be pretty cool.
But if I’m a graduate transfer quarterback, I don’t understand how Alabama is even an option.
In case you missed it, the guy who was 25-2 as a starter got benched for a true freshman in the national championship. They have a bit of a quarterback battle brewing, and I hate to say it, but a grad transfer isn’t even sniffing that battle. They’ll be asked to come in and be a body for their final year of college.
Um, why? Why would I choose to leave whatever my current college is to go to another school for one more year just to sit on the bench?
It makes no sense. Besides moving being the single worst thing that we as humans do regularly, what does Alabama really have to offer me? The chance that if two quarterbacks get injured, I could play in a game? Cool. Sign me up for that. That sounds like a fun way to spend my final year of college instead of playing one more year and building my résumé to try and play professionally.
Not really, though.

Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
This all came to the forefront after Alabama whiffed on a quarterback in the 2018 class and then was reportedly in the market to land East Carolina quarterback Gardner Minshew. According to AL.com, Minshew is expected to visit Tuscaloosa soon.
Minshew, who was expected to by East Carolina’s starter in 2018, transferred to be closer to his home in Brandon, Miss. to deal with a family matter. Brandon is roughly 2.5 hours from Tuscaloosa, which is obviously a selling point for the Tide to get Minshew to fill out the bench.
If I’m Minshew, though, I’m wondering how I benefit from that situation. I don’t know the nature of Minshew’s family matter so I can’t speak to how much of his time it’ll consume, but I don’t think being a third-string quarterback at Alabama is a part-time job that suddenly opens up his schedule to travel 5 hours roundtrip whenever he wants.
I’m interested to know how Alabama is selling him or really any grad transfer quarterback. Is there a chance that they’re hinting at a position switch for Jalen Hurts? That wouldn’t be surprising. After all, it’s easier to sell a grad transfer on being a backup to a second-year player with basically one half of meaningful football under his belt.
Still, though. Think about the basic premise of being a grad transfer. Unless they’re in the minority that actually picks a program based on the grad program they want to pursue in hoping it’ll help their professional, non-football career, they’re going somewhere to play one more year. At the very least, they need to know that they can compete for a starting quarterback job.
So let’s get back to the ideal scenario for a grad transfer in Tuscaloosa. In a perfect world, a grad transfer believes that Hurts is changing positions. The grad transfer also believes that they are one Tua Tagovailoa injury away from playing for the defending national champs. In that scenario, the grad transfer would get the call over Hurts, who would still have 2 years of experience dominating SEC defenses.
Their chances of playing involve basically getting lucky twice. Good luck with that.
I hope that if Alabama does get a grad transfer that whoever it is understands how unlikely it is that they see the field. There’s a reason that Alabama couldn’t sign a 2018 quarterback. People are seeing right through this.
And to be clear, I’m not faulting Alabama for pursuing a grad transfer to add some depth. They have to. After Mac Jones was arrested for a DUI in November, obviously there were some trust issues there. And after watching what happened to Jimbo Fisher at Florida State last year, the last thing Saban wants is to watch his season go down the drain because of a quarterback injury.
One has to think that there is still a legitimate chance that Hurts changes positions and suddenly it’s just Jones backing up Tagovailoa. If that reality presents itself, Saban would be foolish not to be better prepared for it.
But this is far from a typical sell for him. If it were, Alabama would be 5 scholarship quarterbacks deep. At the very least, they would’ve had a grad transfer enrolled already.
If Saban can somehow convince someone to spend their last year of eligibility to wear one of those highlighter-colored hats and give signals from the sidelines every Saturday, I’ll tip my cap to him.
That doesn’t mean I’ll understand it.
For a ring maybe. Depends on if you are looking to play or not I guess.
That photo is hilarious. He teaches them how to win championships, and how to stick out their tongues.
Haha, that’s hilarious, never even noticed that pic until now.
What do they learn at Fla? How to lose graciously?
How to make a chomp motion with their arms?
That’s pretty funny, I never noticed ahaha.
This is legitimate question. A grad transfer would probably end up running the scout team. Even if Tua is the starter and gets hurt, and Hurts has changed positions, chances are strong that Hurts would move back to qb or Jones would take over. If the kid just wants to be a part of the process, then good for him.
If I was trying to become a grad assistant coach and eventually make a career out of coaching I would look into grad transfering to Bama. What better way to learn than under Saban; look at where his coaching tree extends to.
Bingo
Good point… The kid might also want a shot at a NC ring.
Good point.
Florida always needs a QB. If you want to stay close, there has to be a mid major school somewhere that the guy could go to and likely play. Does he want to play somewhere or just go for a ring and the learning experience?
I think the Alabama QB situation is more complicated, which is not all bad. Hurts is an excellent game manager, he can run, and he can make throws. We have only seen one half of one game from Tua. He made huge plays. He has the confidence of his coaches and team. He made some bad decisions, which were quickly overlooked by the great finish. Not completely sure he is the guy for all 15 games. Nick will need all his coaching skills to manage this transition correctly.
If you go back and watch Tua’s highlights last season prior to the championship game and the throws he made, you can tell the kid is special. His mistakes weren’t overlooked, just forgiven/expected as he was just a true freshman and those mistakes are easily corrected (his INT was because he got the play call wrong). His highlights, which I know they are during times when the game has already been decided, but the throws into tight spots, leading players over cross routes perfectly, etc. is pretty amazing for what a true freshman is capable of doing. He was an early enrollee last year as well and can tell the team loves him. Based off his composure during the biggest game he’ll ever play in during his CFB career and able to bounce back after mistakes, I think he can handle any other game and situation moving forward.
That said, I think Hurts deserves a chance to keep his starting position and compete for it this Spring and during Fall camp. I just don’t think he’ll be able to hang with Tua at the end.
Assuming you’re not asking a rhetorical question, here’s your answer.
He probably knows he doesn’t have a future as an NFL quarterback but if he loves the game of football, he may have a future in coaching. Sitting a year on the bench and then being a graduate assistant under the best coach in college football history would be a gift.
You get two types of articles from Connor…. One that strokes the UGA Ego and one that takes shots at Bama. He likes to put out those types of articles because he can usually get UGA fans to bite on both.
It’s funny when you read an article this long by a guy who doesn’t actually understand the topic. Alabama is preparing for the contingency of neither Hurts nor Jones being on the team next year. Hurts will transfer of his own accord, Jones will likely be politely asked to transfer (Sabanese for GTFO).
Conner, given that you start your article with I’m clueless and yet feel compelled to write about such stuff anyway, I hope the comment section could help clear it up for you.
Do you really think a kid from East Carolina is all that worried about building his NFL resume? Alabama isn’t looking to land a Russell Wilson-type here. They just want someone with some game experience that can step in and play in the event of emergency. Alabama would be attractive to this type of player for the same reason the likes of Richard Mullaney and Gehrig Dieter chose to spend their final year of organized football in Tuscaloosa. You are GOING to win, and there will always be job opportunities in this state for a guy that can say “I played for Nick Saban” long after football. I wouldn’t think it would be that much of a mystery, Connor.
I would suggest the writer take some time to think, before runs his mouth. A little thought would have let him picture himself a starting QB at E. Carolina going into his last year. You have been the starter for a couple of years and it has gotten you a good education but little recognition on the Football field. You already know that one year is not going to gain you anything for a resume football or otherwise. Then the possibility of getting on the Bama team for your last year appears. If you do nothing but hold for an extra point you will appear in front of more fans than at anypoint in your E. Carolina career. You get in front of national TV cameras for probably the first time in your life. You have a legitimate shot at winning a NC Ring and completing your education with a degree from Bama. That degree and that ring is going to look pretty good to future employers most of which don’t know where E. Carolina is located. Yeah, I can see him going for that transfer. If the writer had that on his resume, then his name might be a little more creditable to CFB readers.
1. I believe in my ability to compete, and win the job.
2. I believe getting coached by Saban is a great career move, and will be a cool life experience.
3. I want to learn, first hand, what its like inside a championship program.
4. A National Championship ring is a sure-fire panty dropper.
If he does chose Alabama, then my assumption is that either he is REALLY confident in his abilities and believes he can beat out both Tua and Jalen (I don’t see that happening, personally) or he doesn’t believe he has a future in the NFL and either really likes Alabama’s grad program or wants to possibly become a graduate assistant under Saban after he runs out of eligibility.