When quarterback Jacob Coker transferred from the Florida State Seminoles to the Alabama Crimson Tide, many figured he was a shoe-in to replace Tide legend A.J. McCarron as the starting quarterback. After all, some believe Coker was in the mix to win the Seminoles’ job before losing out to Jameis Winston, who won the Heisman Trophy and led the Seminoles to a perfect 14-0 season and a BCS National Championship.
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That, however, has not been the case.
Blake Sims took all of the snaps in the Tide’s 33-23 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers in week one. He started once again in the Tide’s 41-0 win over the FAU Owls but Coker received plenty of snaps.
During Saturday’s game, SEC Network announcer Andre Ware praised Sims, even going on to say “Blake Sims is the starting QB at Alabama … forget about it.”
Bradley Zimanek, a columnist for Montgomery Advertiser believes Ware championed Sims as the starter because both are African Americans and doesn’t believe Sims has done enough to separate himself from Coker.
"The guess here is Ware wants Sims, a fellow African-American, to be the Crimson Tide’s undeniable starter. He cheered and campaigned for him enough during the SEC Network’s broadcast.And, that may happen, but give it some time. Don’t force the issue.There’s a reason after last week’s win over West Virginia that Alabama coach Nick Saban still declared the quarterback situation a competition despite Sims playing all the meaningful snaps.Ideally – like Ware said – it’s better for a team to have one guy in charge.Right now, there isn’t one guy good enough to be in charge."
Obviously, any time anyone is accused of racism, it is a sticky situation. Ware may simply truly believe Sims is the better player and has been impressed by the first-year starters’ poise thus far. It will be interesting to see if and how Ware responds.
Sims has completed 36-of-47 passes for 478 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while rushing for 56 yards and a score on nine carries this season. Coker has went 15-of-24 for 202 yards with one touchdown and rushed four times for 23 yards in the win over the Owls on Saturday.
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