Alabama football just added second QB recruit. Why Nick Saban should sign two every year | Goodbread
On Monday, quarterback Dylan Lonergan's decision to play football at Alabama marked just the fifth time in coach Nick Saban's tenure that the Crimson Tide has taken two quarterbacks in the same signing class.
Lonergan, of Snellville, Georgia, joined Eli Holstein, another highly regarded passer from Louisiana, in the Crimson Tide's collection of 2023 commitments.
Historically speaking, one quarterback per class has been a long-standing baseline for college coaches everywhere. It was once a perfectly sensible way to maintain four scholarship quarterbacks in various developmental stages, feeding depth with one-goes-out, one-comes-in logic.
But nothing else about college football seems to be holding to history these days, and that antiquated philosophy is no different. Saban would be wise to take two every year he can.
The transfer rate at quarterback is unlike any other position on the field.
Quarterbacks are an impatient lot by nature, understandably owing to the fact that only one takes the field. Linebackers can move inside, move outside, or even bulk up to play defensive end. Backup running backs can still carve out a playing role, and at the rate they get injured, September second-stringers often find themselves November starters. Reserve quarterbacks don't get that much opportunity, and they transfer like it, which can utterly decimate depth for a coach in a single offseason.
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And who knows that better than Saban?
Of the 17 quarterbacks he's signed at Alabama who aren't on the current roster, 13 transferred. Over a six-year stretch of signing classes from 2011-2016, every quarterback Alabama took - Phillip Ely, Alec Morris, Cooper Bateman, Parker McLeod, David Cornwell, Blake Barnett and Jalen Hurts - transferred to complete their eligibility. Hurts, unlike any of those others, played a lot of good football as an Alabama starter before moving onto Oklahoma. He was an exception.
The reality is that most incoming quarterbacks aren't going to stay longer than a year or two if they don't see a clear path to a starting role. The list of Alabama quarterbacks signed by Saban who've stuck around - AJ McCarron, Blake Sims, Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones - is a lot shorter than the list of exits, and even Sims began his career as a running back.
So why not sign two every year?
If reserve quarterbacks are going to transfer anyway, why not broaden the competition and increase the chances of striking gold? That might or might not be Saban's thinking in taking two in this class, but the transfer portal is flooded with them, and the quarterback furnace can't be caught without enough coals.
It's always been most important position on the field, and with the popularity of fast-break, RPO offenses, more so now than ever before. Having a highly talented and capable backup, even if inexperienced, is the best insurance policy any coach can have.
For powerhouse brands like Alabama, signing two can be tricky.
The best programs are only interested in the best quarterbacks, and a lot of them won't pick a school that already has one top passer committed. Lonergan is clearly an exception, which speaks well of his confidence and competitiveness.
No two recruiting cycles are the same.
It wouldn't make sense to take a second quarterback just for numbers; a coaching staff has to have confidence in both.
But whenever two worthy quarterbacks can be had, two make a lot of sense.
Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football recruiting: Nick Saban should sign two QBs every year
