EchoVib

For two years, Alabama housed the deepest, most talented group of quarterbacks in America.

But even though Nick Saban and his coaching staff had a good idea of the talent in the room from 2017-18, they’d be hard-pressed to admit they foresaw so much NFL success so quickly. Mac Jones (Patriots), Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) will all start Sunday, marking the first time ever the Crimson Tide have had three Week 1 starting quarterbacks.

Advertisement

“I think we more so take pride in what it took to get here,” Hurts said. “We put in a lot of work. Alabama is a different place. It’s a process. You have to trust and buy into that process, and we’ve all kind of made it out in our particular ways. We’re all blessed and fortunate to have opportunities to play the game we love at the highest level. We don’t take it for granted.”

It’s not uncommon for a school to have multiple starters in the NFL at the same time, but the impressive nature of this trio’s accomplishment has been their roots as teammates. Oklahoma also has three starters this week (Hurts, who transferred to the Sooners for his final season, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield), but only Murray and Mayfield were teammates at the same time.

“I’m not surprised that all three are starters,” said former Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who is now the head coach at Maryland. “I’m surprised it happened this fast. But anybody who shared time with any of those three during their time at Alabama, every one of those players would tell you they all had a lot of respect for their abilities as quarterbacks.”

As it turned out, Hurts’ performance in 2016 played a pivotal role in the younger pair’s arrival a year later. He became the first true freshman quarterback to start for Saban and earned SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors. Quarterbacks Blake Barnett, Cooper Bateman and David Cornwell all transferred as a result.

Saban had already been hot on Tagovailoa, who was one of the country’s most prestigious recruits, but the Alabama coach increased his focus on Jones when they lost three transfers. Jones, who had been committed to Kentucky, loved the idea of competing and developing his game at Alabama, so he signed with the Tide.

“Mac never shied away from the competition. He had enough confidence in himself,” Locksley said. “With the development of Mac, when we recruited him at Alabama – this is all coach Saban and to his credit the type of system that he has in recruiting – people downplayed like Mac was a throw-in. We evaluated Mac as we evaluated Tua, as we evaluated Jalen – as a guy we thought was good enough to come to Alabama and win and become a great quarterback.”

Advertisement

Hurts remained the full-time starter in 2017 with Tagovailoa as his backup. Jones redshirted and primarily ran the scout team.

With the way Alabama divvied up its quarterback reps in practice, Hurts and Tagovailoa worked on one field with the varsity offense against the scout-team defense. But because Saban wants to develop his third-stringers, or at least prepare them to run the offense in case of emergency, Locksley said Jones got one or two practice periods with the starting offense.

They all had their own ways of leading. As the son of a coach, Hurts was described as an old soul with a businesslike approach to his preparation, and he was the leader of the group through the 2017 season. Tagovailoa was the social butterfly. Jones was the fiery competitor.

“Whoever was out on the field at the time showed tremendous leadership,” Locksley said. “All three were alpha males and strong in their beliefs, in what they did and how they did it.

“They all at their own respective times led in their own kind of way.”

The Crimson Tide won 26 of Hurts’ first 28 appearances, but the depth chart got shaken up when they trailed Georgia, 13-0, at halftime of the national championship game in January 2018. Alabama was flat across the board, and Hurts was just 3 of 8 for 21 yards along with 47 rushing yards.

Saban needed to find a spark, and Tagovailoa delivered. The freshman went 14 of 24 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and one interception to engineer an intense, 26-23 victory in overtime.

“I can remember talking to Jalen (at halftime) when we made the decision to make sure you (are ready) because you never know,” Locksley said. “It wasn’t like we made a permanent decision when coach decided to put Tua in the game for the second half of the national championship. When Tua threw the winning touchdown to (DeVonta Smith), the first guy to Tua that ran onto the field and celebrated with him was Jalen.

Advertisement

“Obviously, very competitive with each other, but the respect they had for each other’s game superseded any of the pettiness that comes along when you’re competing for somebody’s job. All three of them definitely cheered each other on and supported each other. There were very few times I can remember in the two years I was with those guys that I saw the body language or the moping that goes on with the guy who is not playing.”

Tagovailoa’s heroics set the stage for a quarterback competition with Hurts in 2018. And while Jones wasn’t exactly thrilled to be left out, the coaching staff deferred to Hurts’ experience and Tagovailoa’s performance in the title game to set up a two-man race.

Despite breaking his finger in spring ball, Tagovailoa persisted and won the job in summer camp. With future first-round picks at receiver like Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, the Tide wanted a quarterback who could make quick decisions and evenly spread it around while also handling the run-pass option.

“We knew we could win with both,” Locksley said. “We felt like we’ve got three dudes in this room who can win. I remember (former Alabama QB coach) Dan Enos saying, ‘We’re talking Jalen and Tua, but this Mac guy is pretty good, too.’”

The decision stung Hurts, but Saban promised to stay on top of his development. He maintained enough practice reps with the starters, and Locksley created two full game plans for each quarterback. Even though Tagovailoa was the starter, Hurts appeared in 13 games, and he led a fourth-quarter comeback against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game when Tagovailoa suffered a high-ankle sprain.

All the while, Jones lit Saban’s hair on fire as the scout-team quarterback. Rather than following the play script to help Saban’s starting defense, Jones frequently targeted open receivers because he knew where to find open zones.

There was also the now-famous example of a practice period when the offense was supposed to call a series of running plays against a stacked defensive box to prepare for that week’s opponent. Instead, Jones checked the plays at the line to get max protections and hit deep ball after deep ball to receivers who darted down the field and celebrated with each big play. After the defense complained and Saban reamed out Jones, the quarterback clapped back to Saban, “If you don’t like it, tell your defense to stop it!”

Advertisement

Jones knew how to ruffle Saban’s feathers. And Jones – whose father, Gordon, was a professional tennis player – earned the “John McEnroe” nickname from Saban due to his fiery passion.

“He and coach would go at it,” Locksley said. “He would always talk about Mac being so emotional. Mac knew how to get under coach’s skin as the scout team quarterback. They used to train you to throw interceptions and throw the ball here. Mac would say, ‘Why throw the ball there? This guy is covered. This (other) guy is wide open.’ Just that back-and-forth jousting for three years, which I think probably strengthened the bond between he and coach. So when Mac became the guy on the (varsity) field, they just knew each other so well and had such a respect for each other that it was easy to hand the torch to Mac.

“With Mac being so competitive and really emotional at times, coach would talk about, ‘You’ll never be able to be a quarterback being so emotional.’ I think it helped out Mac quite a bit. I also think it helped coach know how to deal with Mac once he became the starter.

“It was a neat thing to watch. I will tell you Mac lost all those battles. But somehow, some way, he always tried to manage to get the last word, at least when he was young. As a young player, he just would not concede to understand you’re not winning this battle. Coach would let him know very often. Mac was very, very competitive, and you always saw it.”

After Alabama lost the national championship to Clemson, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma, finished second in the 2019 Heisman Trophy voting and was drafted by the Eagles in the second round in 2020. Late in his rookie year, Hurts supplanted Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback.

Tagovailoa, who finished second in the 2018 Heisman voting, was Alabama’s starter in 2019 until he went down with a season-ending hip injury. The Dolphins selected him with the fifth pick in 2020, and he took the starting job from Ryan Fitzpatrick midway through his rookie season.

“I feel so fortunate to have shared a quarterback room with Jalen and Mac at Alabama,” Tagovailoa said. “We were lucky to have some success during those years in Tuscaloosa, and the memories we made are something we will always share. Not only are they great people and teammates, but I would say we really all helped each other grow so much as quarterbacks during that time. It’s no surprise to me to see the success they both are having because I know how hard they work, how talented they are and especially how much they care about their teammates. They are competitors who make all the guys around them better. I am excited to watch their careers because I know they will continue to be great.”

Advertisement

Jones relieved Tagovailoa at the end of the 2019 season, beat out five-star recruit Bryce Young for the starting job in 2020 and finished third in the Heisman voting. The Patriots selected him with the No. 15 pick, and he was named the starter Aug. 31 after an intense competition with Cam Newton.

Jones’ first career start will be Sunday against Tagovailoa’s Dolphins.

“When you look back on it, it’s pretty cool,” Jones said. “We were all pretty close. We were just there to help each other.

“They all play the position really well. They move on from their mistakes, and they focus on what they have to do. I learned from them. Hopefully, they learned something from me. That was however many years ago, and I think there’s a lot of progress to be made.”

Hurts, Tagovailoa and Jones all played pivotal roles during a run to a national championship, and their individual talents put themselves in the NFL crosshairs. As high draft picks, they were going to get their chances to start at some point, and now they each have a path to become franchise quarterbacks.

They once shared a room. Now, they’re each commanding one of their own.

“I can’t say I envisioned it to happen this quickly,” Locksley said. “You knew all three would have this opportunity. But did I think it would happen in Week 1 of this season? Probably not.

“If you’ve ever been around any of those three, I don’t think any of them would have ever seen themselves or allowed themselves to come in (to Alabama) with the mindset of, ‘Hey, I’m a backup, and I’m happy being a backup.’ They all challenged each other and challenged themselves to be the best version of themselves as quarterbacks.”

(Photo of Jalen Hurts, wearing No. 2 for Alabama, Tua Tagovailoa, No. 13, and Mac Jones, No. 10: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kXFocG9haXxzfJFqZmlxX2Z9cLnAnGSjp56awG62wKWcp2WYqr%2B1v4yapZ1lpKqubsDAoKavmZmhvKJ51p6pnmWfo7CmedOemKalkamytHnArWSapJGXrq6tjKGcq52jYsSpxYytn56xopp6orjLZqWfpF2owaK%2B056prGWepMRw