Alabama quarterback Cooper Bateman (18) throws during spring NCAA college football practice on Saturday at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Alabama quarterback Blake Sims (6) drops back to pass during the second half of an NCAA game against Georgia State in this October 2013 file photo.John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron comprised the succession of Alabama quarterbacks during Nick Saban’s first seven seasons as coach.
Or, in another way of looking at it, one pro-style performer after another.
Alabama opened spring practice Saturday afternoon with fifth-year senior Blake Sims as the most experienced quarterback on the roster. Yet for the 6-foot, 202-pounder from Gainesville, Ga., to win the job by the time the Crimson Tide open their 2014 season against West Virginia in Atlanta, he must shift from his dual-threat past.
“That’s a work in progress for Blake,” Saban said in his brief post-practice news conference. “I thought he made significant progress last year, and I think that’s one thing that we want to evaluate and know that he needs to progress in — his ability to be a more consistent passer, especially in the system that we implement now.”
Sims is competing this spring with redshirt sophomore Alec Morris, redshirt freshmen Cooper Bateman and Parker McLeod and early enrollee David Cornwell. The quintet will be joined in June by Jacob Coker, who is scheduled to graduate from Florida State this spring and transfer to Tuscaloosa with two years of eligibility remaining.