If there’s one player Alabama fans are looking forward to seeing play, it’s freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa, and it’s not even guaranteed he’ll play.

Tagovailoa will be Alabama’s backup QB behind Jalen Hurts this season, but that doesn’t mean he won’t play and won’t have a big role for the Tide’s offense. Remember when Tim Tebow played second fiddle to Chris Leak and Florida won a national championship in 2006? That could potentially play out the same way in Tuscaloosa.

And the man who helped recruit Tagovailoa to Alabama, Lane Kiffin, joined Tide 102.9 FM, and Kiffin thinks Tagovailoa will play in 2017, and he compared him to a former Super Bowl MVP.

“I would sure think so [whether Tagovailoa will play this year],” he said. “I mean you guys saw him at spring game. He’s a special talent. And Coach Saban will figure out the best way to do it obviously, whether they both play.

“Best comparison I think would probably be, watching him in high school, probably Steve Young,” Kiffin said. “A kind of smooth release like that. Not super fast but really quick feet and a really quick release.”

Young would be an easy comparison because of the smooth release, being left handed and being mobile enough to do damage to a defense, but there’s also the intangibles. Tagovailoa is a leader, and that’s obvious. Young was a great leader, too. Obviously, Kiffin will never get the chance to coach young Tagovailoa now that he’s at FAU, but he could have put up some big numbers in Kiffin’s offense.

Earlier this spring, former Super Bowl winning QB Trent Dilfer also had some high praise for the young signal caller.

“I think he’s the most gifted passer I have seen at his age,” Dilfer stated.

While there’s a lot of talk about Tagovailoa this spring, this is still Jalen Hurts’ team and offense, but the mere fact that everyone is buzzing about Tagovailoa is a great sign. The two competing everyday in practice will help make each other better.

Saban also said this spring that there’s no QB controversy in Tuscaloosa, despite what the media wants to create.

“It’s a great problem to have,” Kiffin said on the radio show.