Until Alabama figures out who will be the Crimson Tide's starting quarterback, it will be awfully hard to pencil them into the final four-team College Football Playoff field for this season.
Alabama may have upwards of five promising quarterbacks on their roster, but who is going to start games for them in 2023?
While Dylan Lonergan and Eli Holstein are still too green to make much of an impact, it looks to be a three-man race for the starting job between Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner. Milroe was Bryce Young's backup last season, but keep in mind Bill O'Brien is no longer their offensive coordinator. Simpson is a former five-star, but Buchner did play for Tommy Rees at Notre Dame.
It should definitely be Milroe, but the fact that it is not only adds to the notion of how unsettled the Crimson Tide are at quarterback. The longer the race lingers on, the more likely it will be Buchner. Let's discuss what needs to happen during fall camp in the lead-up to the regular season so that the Crimson Tide can be in a realistic position to make the College Football Playoff in 2023.
Although I love this spirit of the competition, any clarity would do wonders in assessing Alabama.
Alabama being this unsettled at quarterback is not ideal for making the playoff
I'll be totally honest with you. If any team is on the shortlist of being able to overcome such question marks at the quarterback position this late into the offseason, it is Alabama. Not to say that Rees or anyone else on Nick Saban's staff will make the wrong decision, but the right one may be enough to get the Crimson Tide past the likes of LSU in division and Georgia in Atlanta.
Could one of those three signal-callers prove to be better than the likes of Jayden Daniels at LSU or Carson Beck at Georgia? Sure, but there are other issues at hand that might keep Alabama out of the playoff for the second year in a row, and the third time ever. Are the Crimson Tide going to be markedly better at receiver? How quickly will the players learn from their new coordinators?
All three of these components, plus LSU being on the come-up and Georgia at its pinnacle, certainly makes things challenging for the Crimson Tide. This is because they will have to beat both of them, and suffer maybe only one other loss to get in. Alabama has the proven track record to operate under such little margin for error, but the Crimson Tide really need playoff expansion…
Overall, something needs to present itself at fall camp between Buchner, Milroe and Simpson for me to have any real confidence that Alabama is making the playoff this season. The good news is it can be any number of things leading us to believe they can do it. It could be Buchner in complete control of the offense, Milroe's overall dynamism or Simpson's talent shining through gloriously.
Ultimately, I just think there are too many moving pieces and too many other playoff contenders in the SEC for me to realistically think Alabama has got this. No, it wouldn't shock me if the Crimson Tide won the league and was the No. 1 overall seed either. However, the pathway towards getting in requires beating LSU and Georgia, as well as other quality teams such as Ole Miss or Tennessee.
Frankly, the sooner we have clarity under center in Tuscaloosa, the sooner we can assess the Tide.
