Thanks to the passing of the new transfer rule, which will take place this fall for the first time in college football history, players can now compete in up to four games without losing their redshirt status. The way ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy sees it, that could play a huge factor in how Alabama utilizes Jalen Hurts for the upcoming season.

During the Wednesday edition of his ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM show, McElroy offered up his thoughts on how the conversation would transpire between Hurts and Nick Saban if Alabama decides to start Tua Tagovailoa for the upcoming season.

“The new redshirt rule states that you can play in up to four games and still protect your status as a redshirt player. You won’t lose a year of eligibility,” McElroy said on the air. “So that rule now in focus, I think it’s possible that Tua, if he does in fact win the job, and I think that’s the most likely scenario. If Tua wins the job then Jalen [Hurts] can be available on the team if in fact there’s an injury or if there’s a reason why they need Jalen to melt the clock, if they need Jalen to go in the game and play well in meaningful snaps, meaningful moments, he can do so in up to four games and still transfer in January with two years of eligibility remaining.

“I look at it though, and if I’m Jalen and I lose the starting quarterback battle, first of all there’s no shame in losing a starting quarterback battle. You fought valiantly. If you’re the backup heading into the 2018 season I would go to Nick Saban and I would say, ‘Hey coach, man, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and I would appreciate it if you – I’m going to be here for you, like I’m going to be your backup and if I need to play then by all means I’ll go in there and play as hard as I can for you – but if you don’t mind, if you don’t need me to play and if you’re just going to put me in there in mop-up duty then please only play me in four games, only four, because I want to protect this redshirt and I want to transfer in January and pursue an opportunity to become another team’s starting quarterback for two years.’”

How this competition plays out is anyone’s best guess at this point but we are in an interesting era of college football in which a backup player may have the power to request favors from the greatest coach in the sport’s history. After all, if Saban declines to honor such a potential request from a player like Hurts, the quarterback could just leave the program immediately. It’s happened before to the Alabama program and finding a common middle ground for all parties involved does make some sense.

You can listen to McElroy’s comments from the show here:

https://twitter.com/ESPNUonSiriusXM/status/1022187720721031169