re: Official In-Season Practice, Injury Reports and Press Conferences Thread: 12-0

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TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama started redshirt freshman Blake Barnett in its season-opening game against USC on Saturday, while true freshman Jalen Hurts entered it after the second offensive series. But will that transpire again in Week 2?

Or will head coach Nick Saban do something he’s never done and start a true freshman at quarterback?

“Well, I guess I might,” Saban said Monday. “If I said I might do it in a different order, that means I might do it in a different order. So that’s what it means. I think that’s what might means. Does anybody have a dictionary on them?”

Regardless of the order, though, nothing has been decided at quarterback ahead of Western Kentucky.

“I still think that we need to play two quarterbacks to try to gain the experience and knowledge and consistency that we need to see,” Saban said earlier in his news conference. “We may do it a little different way than we did last week.

“But I think we'll probably still play two guys in the game.”

Barnett started the game versus the Trojans and re-entered it in the third quarter. He threw for 100 yards and one touchdown on 5-of-6 passing in his collegiate debut. But all the talk revolved around Hurts. The true freshman accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing) and quarterbacked the Crimson Tide to a 38-0 scoring streak while he was behind center.

Does that mean an expanded role for Hurts is to be expected for Saturday’s game against the Hilltoppers?

“Yeah, I would think that would be the goal,” Saban said. “I think it would be the goal for both guys. If we’re going to have the kind of team that we need to have, the quarterbacks are going to have to do more so that we can utilize the other players on our offensive team that have capabilities of making plays. That will be the goal that we have. No doubt.”

The recipient of Barnett’s 45-yard touchdown, graduate transfer wideout Gehrig Dieter, is of the same mind of his new head coach. He saw the redshirt freshman calm down after a rocky start, as both played well. Both players’ body language was positive on the sideline, as both guys were supportive of one another, according to Saban. “I think that’s very critical.”

“I think he had a little bit of a rhythm the second half,” Dieter said of Barnett. “I think you could tell he was a little bit more confident. I think they all played great and in the practices this week everybody is going to have to bring it again, the same with us. Everybody is going to have to prove to the coaches that we can play on a consistent basis.”

The two-quarterback system worked in the inaugural game of 2016, but it is not the long-term answer.

“Y’all don’t need to be reading more into this than what there is,” Saban said. “Do you understand we’re doing this for now? So that means that’s how it is today. We act like now there’s going to be two quarterbacks for the whole season or there’s not any competition

“… I think that if we’re going to have two young quarterbacks both of them need to gain experience so they can play in the future. How we go about doing that is a plan that I think is very, very important to both guys and to our team. We’re going to try to do that the best way we can.”

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