“Including what they’ve had, he’s much more talented than anything they’ve had,” Fisher said. “I don’t mean to discredit the previous guys, they were all great. But this guy is extremely talented. Arm and mind.”
Many have named the Mobile, Alabama-native and St. Paul’s Episcopal School graduate the heir presumptive to AJ McCarron, the three-time national championship quarterback who is himself a graduate of St. Paul’s Episcopal and a Mobile native.
Alabama coach Nick Saban challenged that perspective during his press conference at SEC Media Days in Hoover last week, saying his staff has yet to choose between Coker and senior Blake Sims, who started in the A-Day game during the spring. Saban also said the younger quarterbacks had not been eliminated from the competition, including redshirt freshman Cooper Bateman.
“That’s really not internally the perception by me, our staff or our players,” Saban said. “Jake Coker has the opportunity to come in and compete for the position. Blake Sims has been competing for the position, really did a pretty good job in the spring. Didn’t play great in the spring game, but we really didn’t do the things that he’s capable of doing. We really can’t make that decision or prediction as to what’s going to happen at that position.”
Junior wide receiver Christion Jones praised Coker’s performance in practice but stopped short of naming a ?starting quarterback.
“[Coker]’s done a great job since he came in May,” Jones said. “He’s been doing an awesome job with our wide receivers, with our coaches, learning and doing all the little things right, trying to become the quarterback that we want him to be. It’s a competitive job for him as well, and he understands that because we’ve got three or four other guys who can also ?help us win.”
Saban said the competition for the starting spot could extend into the season, depending on how each player progressed and wouldn’t rule out a two-quarterback system.
“When you come to picking players, and you’re trying to decide who’s going to be the leader of your team, you can’t really force those things,” Saban said. “You can’t force a relationship. You can’t force happiness. I was always told ‘If you work hard you’ll be successful. If you’re successful you’ll be happy.’ That’s not always true. You have to do something of significance. Somebody on our team is going to have to take the bull by the horns to be the quarterback, and I would like to see that sooner rather than later. But I have no control over that.”
