re: Your gut feeling...who will start at QB?

Batemans problems started his senior year in high school when his team sucked and he got hurt in game 4 and he was done for the year. He had a pretty good junior year but nothing to knock your socks off. And all this in Utah...not exactly a hotbed for high school football talent. He is facing the best talent he's ever seen in his life week in and week out and I don't think the game has completely slowed down for him yet. So yeah, he's scared to death. Maybe he does grow into the job, Kiffin has been a zen master at that. But going into the season facing the most talented team we've faced in an opener since Saban arrived and an Ole Miss team that has a two game win streak on us all in the first month makes me worry. I think the Brandon Avalos comment may be a little more accurate than you think. Not that I think Cooper will be a total bust, but he may resemble Avalos a little more than we would like until he gets settled. Face it, you could plug Avalos in on this team and we'd win 8-9 games no sweat. I just don't think Bateman is the best long term option at QB. He may be the safest right now, but I don't see very much upside either. I'd rather trust my defense and my run game and JK Scott to keep me out of trouble while Barnett or Hurts learns the job. The thing about a shaky QB is no matter how far he has progressed, if he has a bad game going, the fear comes back in a hurry and things go south real fast. Then you've got big problems until and unless the kid can play his way through it. He can do that against UK or Kent State. USC, Ole Miss, LSU...not so much. That's why Cooper scares me. Blake Sims and Coker had their faults, but lack of swagger wasn't one of them. They had confidence in their abilities even when they weren't playing well. They walked and talked like a QB. Cooper looks scared, is scared. If he goes out there and throws a pick six his first series against SC, how does he respond? We won't know how he will handle adversity until he faces it this fall. I'm pretty sure he is the starter going into the season, I'm just not sure how that's going to work out.