The day has arrived, and it’s just about what you would have imagined.

Nick Saban is annoyed, and he’s not about to let anyone in on anything he doesn’t want to talk about, a’ight?

So quit asking about the Alabama quarterbacks, because 1 will walk on the field in September as the starter and the angels will sing.

Only it may not be the 1 you’re expecting.

“We have confidence in the guys we have in the program,” Saban said earlier this week during his press conference to advance Saturday’s A-Day Spring game.

That means — for now — we can rule out a spring transfer portal addition to the roster, though Saban did make it clear that the portal “isn’t a 1-way street.”

Translation: If Alabama can get better at any position through the portal — quarterback included — Saban won’t hesitate. That, everyone, is the takeaway from 14 spring practices.

And that’s what makes No. 15 so important.

The next quarterback at Alabama needs to play well in the A-Day game. Needs to manage the team, make smart decisions and protect the ball — in a game that actually means something, against a defense that will more than likely be better than nearly half of the defenses Alabama plays in 2023.

Even with mixed rosters for the spring game — the quarterbacks won’t be facing a true 1 vs. 1 situation — the competition from a talented Alabama roster will be a significant test for the quarterbacks. More than anything that all but 1 quarterback (Jalen Milroe) has seen over the previous 14 practices.

Because when 60-70,000 fans fill Bryant-Denny Stadium, and the quarterbacks are outside the Saban spring practice bubble, and everyone gets to see every decision and every flaw — and it impacts winners and losers, and starting jobs at other positions, and eating steak or beans for the team meal — you begin to see who wants it.

For as much as coaches try to downplay spring games, there are competition battles all over the field that directly impact the play of the quarterback. All of these things are taken into consideration when analyzing the quarterbacks.

High on the list of finding a starting quarterback — and by high I mean, at the very top — is the way the quarterbacks manage the moment. Earlier in his career at Alabama, Saban often spoke of his desire to have a “game manager” at quarterback — and that was somehow translated to he doesn’t want an elite quarterback.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

What he — and every other coach — wants, is a quarterback who knows the offense, who knows fronts and coverages, and protections and hot routes and options. A quarterback who can walk to the line of scrimmage and see that the offense is in a bad play vs. the defense — and get them into the right play.

Change the play, change protections, get the snap — whether it’s clean or not — manipulate the coverage with his eyes to get the throw he wants, then make an accurate throw on time and with anticipation.

That’s a game manager.

That’s why Greg McElroy was so good and has a national championship ring, and why AJ McCarron was, too. That’s how Jake Coker got a ring, too.

Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones and Bryce Young simply changed the level of elite play at the position. They allowed the offense to develop from run first, throw off play action, to spread it out and fire it all over the place.

If you really want to know what it’s going to look like this season at Alabama, with a new offensive coordinator (Tommy Rees) and an inexperienced quarterback room, go back to the early years in Tuscaloosa. At least early on this season.

Milroe and former 5-star recruit Ty Simpson are likely ahead of the pack, but that doesn’t mean either of the 2 freshman signees — Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan — couldn’t do what Hurts did in 2016. Blake Barnett started that season, and 2 quarters into the season-opener against USC, Hurts, a true freshmen, got on the field and won the job.

Hurts was rare, and began the move toward the elite throwers and dual-threat quarterbacks in the Alabama offense. The first step to winning the 2023 job is the A-Day game, followed by summer workouts and 30 days of fall camp.

“They’ve worked hard all spring,” Saban said. “They’ve had very, very good moments where they’ve shown some consistency and ability to make plays. And there’s been obvious situations where we have work to do and things to work on.”

Don’t expect Saban to name a starter after the A-Day game. Don’t expect the starter in Week 1 to automatically keep the job.

The goal is the figure out a way to beat Georgia, and finding the best game manager who gets you there.