The biggest talk going into the 2018-2019 football season is who will be Alabama starting quarterback.

On one hand you have Jalen Hurts. Hurts has started the past two seasons for the Tide, with a record of 26-2. On the other, you have Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa has really only played one half of college football. That half may have been the most important 30 minutes of his life though. Tagovailoa played the second half of the 2017-2018 national championship, throwing for 3 TDs and winning the game for the Crimson Tide.

As Coach Saban said in an interview, a team is lucky to have one talented quarterback, but he has two. At this year’s 2018 SEC Media Days, Nick Saban made it very clear that this is not a quarterback controversy. It is still not determined who will be the starting quarterback, but it’s the media creating this controversy over who will be the starter.  Whether that is true or not, the competition is strong for that starting spot and everyone is eager to know who will be leading this team.

It is hard to compare the two quarterbacks just based on numbers because Hurts has 28 games to look at while Tagovailoa only has one half. Hurts seems to be the safer choice though. He has shown he can lead this team very far into the season. He is a reliable pass thrower and can and will run the ball well when needed. Tagovailoa, however, has shown he can get the team over the hump of greatness. He can throw the ball a lot farther down the field. Tagovailoa is a little more of a risk, but he can earn a higher reward.

Was it just adrenaline or beginners luck that pushed Tagovailoa to do so well in that game? None of us can know for sure. Gene Chizik emphasized how none of us can try to determine who the starter will be because we don’t have all the information. How both players did at spring and summer workouts is very important for deciding who will lead this team this year. As fall camp approaches, we all wonder when Coach Saban will make this decision.