Alabama football coach Nick Saban did not name a starting quarterback after Saturday afternoon's initial preseason scrimmage inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Not that anyone expected that to be the case.
"We're going to evaluate the quarterback situation," Saban said in a news conference. "We're going to keep looking at the guys, and what somebody did today or didn't do today is not going to win or lose them the job. It's going to be the cumulative effect and the consistency that they practice with and play with over time.
"Both players are good competitors and are really working hard and are really doing a good job."
Saban addressed the quarterbacks during his opening statement, and that was all that subject was discussed. Junior Jalen Hurts and sophomore Tua Tagovailoa have been competing for the starting role since Tagovailoa replaced Hurts at halftime of January's national title game against Georgia and rallied the Crimson Tide from a 13-0 halftime deficit to a 26-23 overtime victory.
Hurts said last Saturday that coaches couldn't control the quarterback competition, and Saban responded Wednesday night that Hurts has the right to speak his mind.
Saturday's first scrimmage went as expected, Saban said, with the experienced players faring better than their inexperienced counterparts. The closed scrimmage consisted of roughly 130 plays.
"This time of camp, things are really, really hard," Saban said, "and I don't think hard is necessarily bad. Life is hard, but I don't think it's bad."
Fifth-year senior outside linebacker Jamey Mosley sat out Saturday's scrimmage with a separated shoulder. Saban is hopeful of having Mosley, who started three games last season, back for the Sept. 1 opener against Louisville in Orlando, Florida.
Sophomore defensive back Daniel Wright has a "shoulder issue" that is being evaluated.
"We're hoping he can play this season," Saban said, "but that remains to be seen."
The newest member of the Crimson Tide, freshman inside linebacker Ale Kaho, was at Saturday's scrimmage but could not participate due to NCAA rules. Kaho signed with Washington but was released this past Monday from the Huskies.
Saban said Kaho, a 6-foot-1, 218-pounder from Reno, Nevada, was not able to get into Washington academically due to "institutional policies" and the Crimson Tide then expressed their interest in the four-star prospect.
"He has to go through all the acclimation that every other player has to go through," Saban said, "so he was in shorts today and will be in shorts the next time we practice and then in shoulder pads for two practices. We'll do the best we can to try and catch the guy up and see if he can make a contribution some way to the team this year."
Alabama is off today before resuming Monday.
Confident Cardinal
Alabama must replace its top six defensive backs from last season, which has Louisville redshirt sophomore receiver Dez Fitzpatrick liking his chances in the opener.
"Every receiver in our receiver corps can honestly beat every one of their DBs one-on-one in coverage," Fitzpatrick said in an interview on Louisville's WLKY-TV. "Straight talent-wise, I feel like we have the upper edge against their secondary 1,000 percent."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.