Greg McElroy recently broke down Alabama’s roster and explained why he’s optimistic for the Crimson Tide in the 2023 season. In his latest episode of the Always College Football Podcast, McElroy provided more insight on the quarterback battle for Nick Saban’s program.

Even with the addition of transfer Tyler Buchner from Notre Dame, McElroy doesn’t see a clear-cut leader for the QB battle as we head into the heart of the summer. He even says Saban himself is not confident in a QB1 to this point and believes the situation could play out into the season.

“I can’t tell you right now who’s going to win that quarterback competition. I can’t do it. Even as a guy that played there, that has inside information with what’s going on at Alabama,” said McElroy. “Nobody knows. You can ask Nick Saban today ‘Hey who’s your starting QB going to be?’ and he cannot tell you with confidence who that guy is going to be. It’s going to play itself out over the course of the summer, it’s going to play itself out over the course of fall camp and it wouldn’t be the first time that it played itself out into the season.”

While McElroy believes the QB battle could continue to begin the season, he does expect the QB1 spot to be solidified for the Texas matchup:

“…In Week 2, when Texas comes to town, I would anticipate Alabama having a solidified starter at that point,” he explained.

Alabama’s 2023 outlook

Even with the 3-man QB battle between Jalen Milroe, Buchner and Ty Simpson, McElroy is “more bullish” on Alabama’s 2023 prospects than he was on the 2022 version of the Crimson Tide. Among his reasons, McElroy pointed to a renewed interest in “ground-and-pound” football with Nick Saban’s program refocused on the importance of controlling the line of scrimmage.

We’ll see if Alabama can rebound in 2023 in the post-Bryce Young era for the Crimson Tide.