What Nick Saban told quarterback who will start for Alabama football vs. Middle Tennessee
Alabama football coach Nick Saban still hasn't named a starting quarterback for the Middle Tennessee game, but Saban did share Thursday something he said to the guy who will take the first snap.
"I've told the guy who's going to start the game, we want you to play well enough so we have an opportunity to play all the guys at the position because that's important for us," Saban said Thursday during his radio show at Baumhower's Victory Grille.
Saban said Alabama would like to play more than one quarterback in the game on Saturday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, Tyler Buchner and Dylan Lonergan have been competing for the starting quarterback job this offseason. Bryce Young started there the past two seasons before he became the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
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"The quarterback who plays on Saturday, that's the quarterback for Saturday," Saban said. "The life of a quarterback, any quarterback, depends on how they perform. If a guy plays well, that's what creates security at that position. If you don't play well ... the first thing everybody does, when you have success, the quarterback gets a lot of credit. But also, when things don't go well, the first guy they point at is the quarterback. So a guy has to understand the way he performs is really, really important."
Saban said all three quarterbacks have made significant improvement. Milroe is in his third season with the program, Simpson is back for his second season and Buchner transferred from Notre Dame after the spring.
"Whoever starts the game, it's not their job in perpetuity because they have to perform well," Saban said "Because they don't have a lot of experience, I think we're all interested in seeing how they all perform."
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nick Saban: What he told Alabama football QB who will start vs. MTSU
