Alabama spring football: The n...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Following in the steps of one program-defining quarterback is tough enough. Whoever leads the Alabama Crimson Tide this fall is going to be following four.

The Tide’s last four starting quarterbacks — Bryce Young, Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts — are all either leading NFL teams or, in Young’s case, just a few days away from doing so. This, then, is the task facing the next quarterback at Alabama: keep pace with a list that includes one Heisman winner, two national championships and three first-round draft picks.

Alabama has four players vying for the right to shoulder that burden, two returnees and two Class of 2023 hopefuls, and each saw playing time at the Tide’s A-Day spring game on Saturday. The verdict? Inconclusive, at best.

The crowd on hand at Bryant-Denny Stadium wasn’t quite at October strength, either during or before the game. The quad around Alabama’s famed Denny Chimes had maybe 10% of its usual tailgating contingent. The line at noted pregame grill Rama Jama’s was only about a dozen people long. Perhaps it was complacency, perhaps it was just some cobwebs on the tailgating gear, but the 58,710 in attendance didn’t even bring the urgency that Bryant-Denny usually summons for whatever hapless non-conference opponents wander into the Tide’s path early in the season.

Out on the field, though, the intensity — and the expectation — were at full throttle. Coach Nick Saban prowled the backfield behind the offenses of the Crimson and White teams sporting a baby blue blazer and the annoyed demeanor of an assistant principal. He barked, clapped, stood with his hands in his pockets, turned away in frustration. He watched as the Tide QBs suffered through a rough first half — a combined 23-of-43 with one touchdown and three interceptions, including on an end-of-the-half Hail Mary. He threw his hands in the air time and time again as balls bounced off some receivers’ hands as others ran downfield untouched … and unnoticed by their quarterbacks.

“It’s really simple,” Saban said after the game, in a speech that was as much for his players as it was for the media. “It’s all about people being committed to the team, respecting what they have to do to play winning football.”

He then ticked off what he meant by “winning football,” and came close to showing the emotion he’d displayed on the field. “You’ve got to eliminate some of the negative plays, which would be interceptions, which would be turning the ball over, which would be dropping balls, which we had too many of today,” he said. “Also giving up plays on defense, making mental errors. Those kinds of things are what gets you beat. That’s what we want to eliminate.”

Coming into the game, Jalen Milroe — who had one start in relief of an injured Young last fall — and former five-star Ty Simpson projected out as the leading contenders for the starting job. Heralded freshmen Eli Holstein and Dylan Lonergan took snaps as well, as Saban begins the delicate dance of keeping quarterbacks in-house and away from the transfer portal.