NCAAF teams
Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Nick Saban pondering using multiple QBs in opener vs. Wisconsin

College Football, Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama coach Nick Saban said he has no timetable for naming a starting quarterback and would not rule out the possibility of two quarterbacks playing in the season opener against Wisconsin.

"I'm not saying we're going to do this or that we even want to do this, but we may play more than one guy in the first game," Saban said Thursday.

Cooper Bateman, Jake Coker and Alec Morris have been the three primary quarterbacks in competition this week, Saban said. Coker, who transferred from Florida State last season and was the primary backup during Alabama's run to the College Football Playoff, has been the first quarterback in the rotation during practice.

"We've been through this several times before," Saban said of naming a starter. "I think you can name a guy. But if we named a guy and then that guy wasn't the best performer and then we had to unname him, what good does that do?

"So, sometimes, you run the risk of naming the guy before he's won the team or won the job."

Last season, Alabama didn't name Blake Sims its starting quarterback until the day of its Week 1 game against West Virginia. In 2009, Saban waited until several weeks into the season to give the starting job to AJ McCarron over Phillip Sims.

"You have to have some clear-cut evidence that a guy really has won the job," Saban said. "And you can't make that happen. As bad as I'd like to be able to say, 'This is our starting quarterback' -- I would really like to be able to say that. That doesn't mean that we don't have a good quarterback. It means we may have more than one good quarterback."

Saban said he has been pleased with the progress of all three quarterbacks.

"They've all done a really, really good job," he said. "I've seen a lot of progress offensively this week."

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