Alabama's Bateman ready to restart 'grind' of QB competition

Alabama redshirt sophomore quarterback Cooper Bateman started against Ole Miss in September but spent most of this season as Jake Coker's backup.
Alabama redshirt sophomore quarterback Cooper Bateman started against Ole Miss in September but spent most of this season as Jake Coker's backup.

Alabama's drive to a fourth football national championship in seven seasons continues Thursday night in the Cotton Bowl, when the Crimson Tide face Michigan State.

Should the Tide prevail at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, they would face the Clemson-Oklahoma winner in the title game of the four-team playoff on Jan. 11. Whenever Alabama's season ends, whether it be in joyous or frustrating fashion, the reset button again will be pressed for its quarterback picture.

"It starts all over again, and it's the same exact thing," redshirt sophomore quarterback Cooper Bateman said. "We'll have great quarterbacks. We'll have old quarterbacks and young quarterbacks, and the grind starts again."

Determining the starting quarterback under coach Nick Saban used to be more of a passing of the torch. Saban inherited starter John Parker Wilson, who handed off to backup Greg McElroy, who in turn handed off to AJ McCarron. Each of those quarterbacks started multiple seasons for the Tide, with McCarron starting three before getting selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2014 NFL draft.

Blake Sims and Jake Coker battled for the right to succeed McCarron last year, and the most crowded race in Saban's tenure occurred earlier this year when Coker, Bateman, redshirt junior Alec Morris, redshirt freshman David Cornwell and early enrollee Blake Barnett vied for the starting job.

"It seems so long ago that all those battles were taking place," Bateman said. "We battled from the start of camp to the end of camp and on into the season, and Jake won it in the end and the team played great. I can't say enough good things about him."

Coker has guided the Crimson Tide to a 12-1 record after shaking off Bateman, who was his final challenger. Bateman was effective in preseason camp, played in each of Alabama's first two games and actually got to start the Tide's third contest, a 43-37 home loss to Ole Miss.

Bateman was intercepted and replaced by Coker midway through the second quarter with the Rebels leading 17-3, but the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Murray, Utah, wound up completing 37 of 51 passes (72.5 percent) for 291 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also was the holder on special teams.

"I loved every moment of every experience I had," Bateman said. "I feel like it was a good start. This year was the first time I had started a game or even played in a game at Alabama, and when I reflect back on it, I feel good."

That Bateman finished runner-up to Coker was considered a surprise given that he spent some of spring practice working at receiver, thus creating the perception that he was last in the competition.

"We had five quarterbacks repping, and that's hard to do for any team," he said. "I took the opportunity when I wasn't getting reps at quarterback to do something else instead of just standing on the sideline. At that time of year, I just wanted to do whatever to help out the team.

"I wanted to play quarterback, though, so I kept my head down and kept battling."

And battle he did, earning rave reviews from Saban during preseason camp as he moved up the pecking order.

"I told him, 'If you're going to be a quarterback, we want you to improve your accuracy as a passer and your ability to take care of the ball,'" Saban said in August. "I told him, 'You're very athletic,' and, 'You're the kind of quarterback we'd like to have here.'

"Lo and behold, he did that. He did that in May, and he did that over the summer."

Though Bateman made the most strides in August and got valuable experience this season, he knows the slate is about to be wiped clean. He was a top-five quarterback prospect in the 2013 signing class according to ESPN, Scout.com and 247Sports.com, but Cornwell came along in 2014 and Barnett last winter with accolades that were equally impressive, if not better.

Alabama is about to make its case for being college football's top team for 2015. Soon after that, the search for a new on-field leader will begin.

"The competition never stops," Bateman said. "We went from camp into the first few games, and we were still battling during our practice reps. Your spot is never secure. You always have to keep working and keep pushing."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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