It is obvious Alabama football’s biggest question during the off-season has been, "Who will be the quarterback?" With the departure of Blake Sims, there are three candidates that have been spoken about the most, two of whom will be starting their second year at the University of Alabama. Do not fear, Tide fans, Lane Kiffin has only spent the same amount of time in Tuscaloosa as both players.
Being the quarterback at Alabama is a big deal. You are the face of Alabama football and the country is watching. You will be the jersey that kids will be wearing all over the state of Alabama. No pressure, though. There are three main players that Tide faithfuls seem to have their eyes on to take on the aforementioned responsibilities.
The first obvious candidate is Jacob Coker, the second-year transfer from Florida State University. FSU Head Coach, Jimbo Fisher, said, “It was extremely close," when it came down to choosing between Coker and Jameis Winston for the starting FSU quarterback position. Last year, Coker was expected to be the transfer savior at quarterback that Alabama was looking for. He had the same measurables as A.J. McCarron, he came from the same high school as McCarron, but was quicker. Blake Sims ultimately won the job over Coker for the 2014 season. Sims took us all the way to the first College Football Playoff, but fell short. This year, Coker is the expected front-runner for the job, with more years of college football experience and a year of Lane Kiffin's offense under his belt. Fans, look for the new #14 to be under center.
There is one player not to be left out of this race by any means: redshirt freshman, David Cornwell. Cornwell was ranked as the top pocket passing quarterback just two years ago when he was coming out of high school. He has the height, weight, and throwing power to be an excellent pro-style quarterback. Cornwell has had the most momentum coming out of spring practice into fall camp. The locker room seems to be pretty split 50/50 on who will start amongst Coker and Cornwall.
Last but certainly not least, the mysterious third competitor at quarterback - who some Alabama fans simply know as “the big bad freshman from California” - is Blake Barnett. Barnett was a top-ranked dual-threat quarterback from the class of 2015. Barnett early-enrolled at Alabama in the spring of 2015, so he participated in spring practice. The main concern was that he was too small, but coming into fall camp, he has put on weight. So now the question is whether or not he is a good enough quarterback to burn his redshirt, and for him be the first true freshman to take the starting quarterback position in over twenty years.
During the offseason, Barnett spent his time with some of the elite quarterback coaches in the country, like George Whitefield, Jr., who has coached the likes of Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, Jameis Winston, and Bryce Petty, just to name a few. Barnett may be a long shot to win the starting position, but Lane Kiffin did take a first year quarterback, who was new to his offense, to the College Football Playoff semi-final game.
