Alabama head coach Nick Saban likes things a certain way, you have to trust the process Saban likes to say. Saban has long preferred the safe bet, the sure thing, over the risky gamble. This is why going with Jalen Hurts at quarterback is such a stretch. Hurts may be the most talented quarterback on the roster, but he is a true freshman and you can't count on him to be safe.
"This is completely uncharted waters for Nick Saban to sit there and say 'Okay guys, we're going to play a true freshman,'" ESPN's Tom Luginbill told Paul Finebaum on his show Monday. "Well, with that, comes flashes of great moments and some real bone-headed plays."
"I think Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin are far more on the same page offensively about what they want to do than maybe outsiders looking in think," Luginbill stated. "They want to run the football, they want to have a controlled play-action passing game and they want to be able to put the ball vertical and create big plays. But now you've added an element of a quarterback that can do all these magnificent things that isn't really tailored to what they've been on offense. So you don't want to hold the kid back, you don't want to completely, drastically change your offense, but you've got to accentuate his strengths."
Maybe Hurts really is too good to leave on the sidelines, or maybe the rest of Bama's quarterbacks have been that unimpressive, but either way Saban is going with the playmaker over the game manager. So far, so good.
