Paul Finebaum calls Tommy Rees a 'disaster' at Alabama, Crimson Tide in 'turmoil'
Paul Finebaum knows who he would start for Alabama next week against Ole Miss, but the larger issue surrounds offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
Finebaum on ESPN’s SportsCenter Sunday morning said his decision would re-insert Jalen Milroe back in as starting quarterback after he was replaced on Saturday by Tyler Buchner, who was benched in favor of Ty Simpson.
“He made plenty of mistakes against Texas, Randy, but he has talent,” Finebaum said of Milroe. “He can run the ball, he can make big plays.”
After a first half Saturday when Alabama scored just 3 points, the Crimson Tide turned to their running game, and Simpson did just enough to pull out a victory. Simpson led 2 long touchdown drives, and Roydell Williams powered a productive rushing attack with 129 yards and a TD.
Yet the main story for Alabama remains the quarterbacks, and what the Tide should do next.
“For the life of me, I don’t understand what Tommy Rees, the offensive coordinator is doing,” Finebaum said. “Quite frankly, I don’t know what Tommy Rees is even doing there after 3 weeks. There were jokes on my Twitter line about whether he would make the plane coming home, and I’m not really sure he should. So far, I think Tommy Rees has been a disaster as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator. He has changed — he clearly went with the wrong quarterback in (Tyler) Buchner, that’s the guy that followed him from Notre Dame. Ty Simpson had some moments, but he’s still young and raw and against big-time SEC competition I think he could be under a lot of pressure.”
Finebaum knows how he would handle it, but Saban may not see it that way.
“So Jalen Milroe to me would be the likely starter, that’s who I would start,” Finebaum said. “But then again, Nick Saban apparently is only listening to Tommy Rees, which is one reason why I think this program is in such turmoil right now.”