NCAA Football: Top 5 QB battles to watch
By John Bauman
Alabama
Candidates: Jacob Coker, Blake Sims, Cooper Bateman
The favorite here is Coker, a Florida State transfer who attempted 41 passes for the Seminoles. Coach Nick Saban has an unusual situation on offense, breaking in a new quarterback and a new offensive coordinator in Lane Kiffin. Kiffin and Saban didn’t find a starter in spring practice, but Coker hadn’t arrived yet and wasn’t able to practice with the team in the spring. Now he has a chance to take a hold of this starting job and run with it, possibly all the way to a National Championship.
There is no doubt that whoever the quarterback is that he will have a lot of weapons to turn to. Leading receiver Amari Cooper returns as a weapon at wide receiver, and running backs T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake will punish linebackers who dare to attack them next season. Yeldon and Drake combined for 21 touchdowns last season and both averaged over six yards a carry. So no matter who the quarterback is, they will always have a comfortable safety net — just hand the ball off to Yeldon and Drake.