Who Will Start at QB for No. 4 Alabama on Saturday Night? Just A Minute
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00:00 Alongside Katie Windham, I am Austin Hannon. This is Bama Central's Just a Minute. Katie,
00:04 we're two days away now from Alabama's first game of the season against Middle Tennessee State.
00:08 There's been so much talk all spring, summer, fall about who's the quarterback going to be,
00:12 but in just about 48 hours, we're going to find out that answer, at least for the time being.
00:17 So when we walk into the press box on Saturday night, Katie, or I guess Saturday afternoon,
00:22 and when you flip over that flip card, who will be on that number one line on Alabama's
00:26 quarterback depth chart? Well, I don't think that's necessarily going to give us an answer
00:30 because I'm expecting that that depth chart is still going to say "or," even though the game
00:34 will literally be in hours at that point. So I think it's going to say Jalen Milrow or Ty Simpson
00:41 QB1, but I think that Jalen Milrow will be the starter on Saturday night. I don't think that's
00:46 like a super hot take at this point. I think that's pretty much the general consensus. Now,
00:51 I think maybe at the beginning of the offseason, it wouldn't have been such a surefire consensus,
00:56 but I think kind of as things have progressed and gone on through December and fall,
00:59 that's what people think. Now the question is, I mean, Saban has made it very clear.
01:04 He won't say much about the quarterbacks, but one thing he said about a million times at this point
01:08 is that whoever starts week one doesn't mean they'll be the starter all season. So I think
01:12 Jalen Milrow will start, but I think he'll have to play well in order to keep that starting job
01:17 all year. And I think really the question is going to be on Saturday, how much will Alabama switch
01:22 between quarterbacks? Will it be Milrow's game until Alabama has a big lead and you put a backup
01:27 in? Will he play the first half, Ty Simpson the second? Will they rotate quarters? I personally
01:32 think Alabama is going to let Milrow ride for a little bit because of the big game they have
01:37 coming up next week and let him get as many reps as possible. But that's going to be the main thing
01:42 I know that you're going to be following on Saturday, but who do you think? Yeah, I think
01:47 what you said was kind of spot on. I think we're all expecting Jalen Milrow to start the game. I
01:53 think the most effective way to do this would be in and out every drive, and that includes Tyler
01:57 Buckner. I think he still deserves a chance at getting an opportunity to show what he can do on
02:03 the field against a real team. I think everybody's kind of realized that it's down to Milrow and
02:07 Simpson, but he's got D1 Notre Dame experience. And that's something that Alabama wanted. There's
02:13 a reason they went and got him in the portal. So I think you're going to see him a little bit on
02:15 Saturday, too. I would be a little disappointed if they decided to go with just Milrow until the
02:20 game is a 30 point game and then try the other guys, just because I don't think that's really
02:24 giving them a fair shot at getting a chance against the first teamers on the other team.
02:28 And there's pressure on them when it's still a close game. So I think that's the way they should
02:33 handle it. Obviously, Saban was asked about that, and he didn't really say that there was any kind
02:37 of plan. It was just going to be we're going to put a guy out there and kind of go from there,
02:41 and the season starts. So I think it will be Milrow. I think everybody will probably look
02:46 good that goes into the game on Saturday. I've been saying that to everybody. I mean,
02:49 it's Middle Tennessee State. Their defense is not great. They're more of an offensive team.
02:53 So this shouldn't be too big of a challenge, hopefully, if you're an Alabama fan for these
02:57 quarterbacks. So I think the big challenge comes next week. And who's going to start that game?
03:03 It's if it's still Milrow, then what if Milrow struggles in the beginning and Alabama goes down
03:08 a couple of scores and then Brian Denny's silent and somebody else has to go in there and save the
03:13 day? Who knows? Maybe Milrow takes it on Saturday and never gives it up. So it's going to be Milrow
03:19 on Saturday. But I think it's still like you said, and like Saban has said so many times,
03:23 including once more this morning on the Cole and Kublik show, it's not over. It's not over.
03:29 And it's going to continue into next week and maybe even into South Florida when Alabama goes
03:34 to Tampa to play USF. We'll have to see. But everybody that's watching this, you're going
03:39 to find out on Saturday night who's Alabama's starting quarterback at least for week one,
03:43 and then we'll go from there. So for Katie Windham, I'm Austin Hand,
03:46 and this has been Bama Central's Just a Minute. Thank you so much for watching.
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