Nick Saban tactics caught duo by surprise, ex-Bama QBs say
They're no longer at Alabama, but former Crimson Tide quarterbacks Blake Barnett and Cooper Bateman are in familiar positions as they compete to earn the starting jobs at Arizona State and Utah, respectively. This time, however, both players hope the competitions end and, perhaps more importantly, are handled differently.
To be clear, both Barnett and Bateman have a lot of respect for Alabama coach Nick Saban as a football coach, but neither was happy with the communication they received last year related to their individual situations. When true freshman Jalen Hurts received the bulk of the playing time in Alabama's season-opening 52-6 win against USC, it caught both players off guard.
"Long story short, I was just as surprised as everyone else," Bateman said. "It wasn't really how it was told to me it was going to be."
Heading into the game, Barnett said he was under the impression the job was his and Bateman believed he would split time with Barnett, which is what Saban said publicly would be the case the week of the game.
That, of course, isn't how it played out. Hurts replaced Barnett after two series against USC and didn't give way to Barnett again until he helped guide the Tide to a 38-3 lead. Looking back, Barnett said he believes the plan was to play Hurts all along. The mop-up duty he and Bateman received did little to quell their frustration, and almost immediately both players thought about transferring.
"How things were communicated, there was a lack of communication," Bateman said. "I knew I didn't want to be involved with that anymore, but fortunately that was the first game of the season -- 12, 13 more to go. I put my head down and battled through it. I knew after that first game that I didn't really want to be a part of it anymore."
Before the game, Barnett, a former five-star recruit and the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2015, said Saban told him there would be some zone read packages for Hurts, but he shouldn't worry about it.
"According to him, I was their guy," Barnett said. "Once Jalen went in, I was expecting it. But then he went out on the next series, the next series and the next series. I don't know if everything was communicated correctly."
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20279681/nick-saban-tactics-caught-duo-surprise-ex-alabama-crimson-tide-quarterbacks-say
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Barnett and Bateman are better off out of there, if "lack of communication" so severely distressed them.
I guarantee you, Jalen Hurts will be the one needing psychotherapy after he leaves Alabama! 