By Hunter Ford

Enquiring minds want to know who the Alabama starting quarterback will be when The Crimson Tide plays West Virginia, Saturday, in Atlanta.

Alabama coach Nick Saban isn’t tipping his hand, even this close to the season opener. During his SEC coaches teleconference interview today, Saban was asked why senior Blake Sims had not been tapped as a starter, considering that the more experienced player usually gets the starter’s role. Sims is in competition with Florida State transfer Jacob Coker, who will have two years of eligibility in Tuscaloosa, and has only been practicing with the Tide since the beginning of fall practice.

“I think it’s our responsibility to give both guys an opportunity,” Saban said. “That’s how we recruit players to come here, that they’re all going to get a fair opportunity to play. We’re going to choose the best players that give our team the best opportunity to be successful based on how they perform.”

“Both guys have performed well,” Saban continued. “And Blake has performed very, very well. Nobody ever said he wasn’t going to start the game, so I don’t know why you would make those kinds of assumptions.

“There is no hypothetical. I’m not going to answer hypothetical questions. Our situation here is our situation here. I’ve been very upfront about how we’re managing it. And I don’t care about ‘typically’ anything, or anything hypothetical.”

Saban did not commit to playing both quarterbacks, or name an official starter.

At a press conference yesterday, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen said he expects Alabama to play both quarterbacks. He also said the situation has been over-hyped.

“A lot has been made about their quarterback spot…I think too much has been made about their quarterback spot,” Holgorsen said. “They’ve got two guys who are going to be able to run their offense. To me, with coach Kiffin- I’ve known coach Kiffin for a long time- he has a great history of being able to coach some pretty good offenses. I don’t think what they do offensively is going to change a whole bunch.”

The lack of official snaps for Sims and Coker during their careers has limited the study of their tendencies.

“There is only so much you can prepare for,” Holgorsen said. “The flip side of that is I doubt they’re going to have two different offenses for those two guys. There is only so much they can prepare for as well.”

14 thoughts on “Alabama Football: Saban refuses to name Sims or Coker as starter”

  1. If Coker doesn’t start the West Virginia game, is that considered “punishment?”

    I didn’t think so.

    I’ve got my tickets to the Chic-fil-a kickoff game in Atlanta and they look great, as they always do. I can’t wait to see just the BACKUPS from the roster. Let’s take a look, shall we?

    Coker or Simms. One of them won’t start. He’ll still play. We’ll all watch, and by “we” I mean football fans and media everywhere. Maybe we’ll even get to see Cooper Bateman or David Cornwell.

    Then there’s RB Derrick Henry. He won’t start. He’ll play. And we’ll all watch.

    Robert Foster, Chris Black, Cam Sims let me have it.

    Dakota Ball. C’mon.

    Da’Shawn Hand. Need I say more? I do? OK.

    How about Marlon Humphrey and Tony Brown?

    That’s what you call depth. Alabama has enough of it to make the Pacific Ocean jealous, and a quarterback “controversy” is a nice way of saying “way too much depth to give the job to a cornerback from Georgia.”

      1. Marshall?

        You mean Nick Marshall? What’s that got to do with this story? Just because two of these the three players won’t start?

        Never mind.

        Define “outperform.” We know Marshall is going to run. But you think he’ll throw more than Alabama’s QB? I’ll be interested to see at the end of the season.

        Not interested enough to actually look it up, mind you. But if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s an Auburn fan’s undying, unrelenting impulse to prove an Alabama fan wrong, so I don’t have to worry about looking it up. If Nick Marshall outperforms Alabama’s QB in any way, I’m sure you’ll let us know. If he doesn’t, Nick Saban and the NCAA conspired with ESPN or something, I dunno.

        The other guys I mentioned though, I wouldn’t be too sure about being outperformed, and they’re not starters.

      2. Marshall has been too busy rolling doobies to be worried about football.

        He takes a step or two back this year, in my opinion.

        Auburn had their scheduled lucky year…they now regress to norm.

  2. Just kidding about the Depriest comment. But seriously u guys have enough depth for two D1 teams. Saban is a machine.

  3. I could probably manage to take a few snaps and hand off to our running backs…. We will be fine….. RTR

  4. saban doing the same thing ua did with my grades . waited til after the final exams to give me my final grades..wth wth…crazy

  5. saban doing the same thing ua did with my grades . waited til after the final exams to give me my final grades..wth wth…crazy

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