********** Official 2018 Alabama QB Situation Thread ************

Hey look everyone, it says "Official" and has a bunch of ********** on it, so you know it is legit.

I'll give my 2 cents on what I think is the best outcome for 2018 now that we have an idea of how the offense will look coaching wise and the players involved.

2006 Florida - Chris Leak/Tim Tebow
2012 Oklahoma - Landry Jones/Blake Bell
2013 Ole Miss - Bo Wallace/Barry Brunetti

Tua clearly being the starter and #1 QB with Jalen being the backup but also having a clear wildcat like Power QB package with play action options. Blake Bell and Tim Tebow are the best comparisons.

2006 Florida
Tebow went 22/33 for 358 yards, but most of that was in blowouts over UCF and Western Carolina (16/21 for 281 yards). He went 6/10 for 77 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs in SEC play. His main contribution was short yardage runs (and the 3 TD passes off of those run threats). He ran for 359 yards on 73 carries for 5 TDs in 11 games against P5 opponents.

2012 Oklahoma
Blake Bell was used in a similar role to Tebow, but even more as a battering ram (he was almost fullback size at 6-6, 254 lbs). He was almost exclusively used as a short yardage back, throwing only 11 passes against P5 teams with 7 of them being in blowouts against Texas and Kansas. He ran 59 times for 182 yards, which is only 3.08 YPC, but he scored 11 TDs on those 59 runs. He was good at his specific role which was getting tough, short yards.

The Ole Miss example is a bit different as Brunetti was more of a quick twitch guy who came in almost more as a change up to the bigger, slower Wallace.

I think Jalen could flourish in a Tebow like role. He is a better, more agile QB than Bell was, and quite frankly is similar to Tebow in style and throwing ability. It would also keep him involved in a way that would give him a very specific role while also being the backup. A diamond like formation with Jalen and 2 backs in a shotgun Wishbone type look would be incredibly difficult to stop (especially since it wouldn't be our main offensive gameplan and therefore hard to gameplan against extensively).

And, it would keep Tua from having to pound the LOS in those situations.