re: 2014 Alabama has only the QB as the biggest hole.

Wow, you think he's that bad, huh.

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and I have a hard time believing that Coker is more mobile than Sims.

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Who said he is more mobile? I said they had similar experience but Coker has a much better arm and has and can throw downfield.

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Wow, you think he's that bad, huh.

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He's really inaccurate as a passer. There have been a number of times when I've seen him overthrow open receivers that are five yards away. The fact that Alec Morris can't even beat out Sims to be the #2 QB really speaks volumes about how the coaching staff feels about him. At this point, it's Bateman, transfer QB with a waiver, or bust for 2014.

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But Sims is incapable of throwing down field, if you can't take the top off the coverage you can't run our offense.

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GMAC is one of my favorite Bama players of all time, class act, but he couldn't exactly take the top off of anything. He made some plays down the field, but a lot of that was because Julio is a freak of nature. I don't think Sims is the guy, but I think he's going to be given the chance to earn the job. I had Cornwell competing for the job, but with his injury and Coker maybe coming in, I say it's Blake vs Bateman vs Coker vs Del Rio, at least through the Spring and Summer. Come Fall Camp we may be down to two, maybe come the opener we still have all four competing, who knows?

This is a pretty good problem to have, in a way. It develops the loser (Bateman or Del Rio in particular) into a solid backup or future option at Q.

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GMAC is one of my favorite Bama players of all time, class act, but he couldn't exactly take the top off of anything. He made some plays down the field, but a lot of that was because Julio is a freak of nature.

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And G-Mac's mediocrity almost lost us a number of games in 2009 and eventually caught up to us in 2010. You need a QB capable of making some plays in the passing game because there will come a time when the running game or defense struggles and the team will have to put up points and move the ball through the air. Just imagine how screwed this team would have been if John Parker Wilson or Greg McElroy was the QB in the A&M game. They would have been done after getting down 14-0.

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almost lost us a number of games in 2009

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You really want to go back to squeaking out games against Auburn and UT?

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You really want to go back to squeaking out games against Auburn and UT?

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See, this is the main reason why I was such a huge advocate for A.J. I was tired of watching this team play down to shitty competition because of the limitations at QB. Since A.J. has been the starter, Bama has curb stomped and annihilated pretty much every inferior team they've gone up against. There hasn't been any three point wins against Kentucky. There hasn't been any times when they've needed to block a field goal to preserve a win against Tennessee. I don't need to worry about Bama having to score a last minute TD to beat Auburn because A.J. has never trailed against Auburn. There are no more liabilities holding a great team back from reaching its full potential and it's been an absolute joy to watch.

I've seen people post that some analyst observed Coker in practice and said that he has 1st round talent. He was also even with Winston through spring and part of fall camp. Do either of those things guarantee he'll be good? No. But contrast that to Sims who got moved to RB when Ely came in and struggled with INTs at A-day and a fall scrimmage and I understand why people are excited by the idea of Coker coming in to compete for the job.

Could turn out to be typical back-up QB hype though