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Former Alabama QB moving to WR? Why did he transfer?
By Kevin Duffey
Published:
This is where things get kind of interesting.
Former Alabama quarterback Cooper Bateman has enrolled at Utah as a preferred walk-on, but get this: the school doesn’t view him as a quarterback. He’ll compete for playing time at wide receiver, according to The Salt Lake Tribune’s Kyle Goon.
Update on Cooper Bateman: Utah sees him as a wide receiver in its program. Not expected to compete for QB job this fall.
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) January 27, 2017
Bateman came to Alabama as part of the 2013 recruiting class, and he was rated as the country’s No. 4 overall pro-style quarterback in the class. In two seasons at Alabama, Bateman was 49-of-66 for 410 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Bateman didn’t play a major role for the Crimson Tide, obviously, and from what little we’ve seen from him, he had some athleticism for a signal caller, despite being labeled “pro-style.” But perhaps he could have enough athleticism to transition into a wide receiver.
Bateman had to have known he wouldn’t get a shot at playing quarterback, right? Perhaps he didn’t. It begs the question that if he would have known he’d have a shot to play receiver only, would he have taken a different route?
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.