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Gumps say Heisman contender Milroe back in a QB race with awful QB he beat out last year..And gobs of "insider" stuff on Saban's tumultuous swan song

kckd

Circle of Honor
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Aug 8, 2001
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It was almost depressing reading this. How did we lose in Atlanta?


Back to where we started Gump: I think CKD will have a two-quarterback system to start the season.

Cliche Gump:
.unless there's a huge move with either JM or TS, I think we have a 2 QB system to start the year.

With two relatively easy game, the schedule sets up nicely for that. But I figure by the time we go to Madison and Georgia comes here, we will have settled on one since, you know, "If you've got two QBs you don't have one."

No separation again Gump: It doesn't matter which one is "barely" better than the other at practice. "Barely" isn't enough separation to outright pick one. At that point, it's time to see how they both perform in games.


Crazy Dawg-like "Kirby Smart hired" Gump post: I swear, if CKD picks Simpson, and the OL has a mutiny like they did against USF, then I am done supporting this program.

Old Man Saban meddling Gump:
Hadn't even thought about going two QBs early on. That would be a brilliant way to work through the QB drama. It's a tough situation for CKD to be in with the GOAT hovering over the program (and likely still pushing his player agendas). It'll remain a balancing act for a couple years until CNS's 'guys' have all worked through the system.

Getting back to merit will go a long way to resolving some of our recent issues, or, the team will implode because they refuse to get back on track. Regardless, there may be some bumps in the road...self-inflicted wounds from the last 2-3 years.

"Heisman my Tuchas" Gump: Their skill sets are similar? One can't make presnap reads or make short throws consistently.

Our Heisman candidate sucks Gump:
I think at this point it may take rotating quarters or a set number of offensive plays in live games for these two to sort this nonsense out. It’s definitely not ideal, but if Simpson is the answer the team will need to see him outperform Milroe in the same game to be swayed to let the best player play.

If Simpson can’t do that, then who knows.

A house divided Gump: If the locker room is a fraction as divided and dejected as a lot of the posters on this board, we’ll be lucky to field a team much less win any games.


I want my money back Gump:

It‘s a lock that the team is deciding who starts at QB?

Makes me wonder why we’re paying millions upon millions to the coaching staff.


"Cause you know, little has changed in five decades" Gump:
Why can't we use two QBs? The Bear did this with success in the seventies.

Mutiny on the Tuscaloosa County Gump: The team chose Milroe last year and did not want Ty. Saban flat out said “The team picked Milroe”. Booker had mysterious back spasms before the game. Several players were clearly giving less than 100% effort. The OL refused to help Simpson up. Do the math, man…

Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist, Bob Woodward Gump:
It kinda has started to trickle out, but usually it’s a 3-4 year dump of information. Alot of people don’t want to dump on current players and wait a few years to do so.

The problem here is that 80% of the fanbase wants to accept only one of two points. 1) that the team threw the USF game or 2) Simpson and Buchner were just not good as Milroe in 23. But the often overlooked point was that Milroe didn’t play at all that day in South Florida. No one seems to want to know why and just wants to assume Saban was testing his options. The truth is that Milroe was suspended because of his reaction to a heated film study with the offensive staff on his reads during the Texas game. It kinda puts into question why our offense was atrocious the one game that he was suspended.

Idk how involved Milroe was in on the faction of the locker room that supported him but I do know that Saban buried a particular receiver on the depth chart because he was loafing for Buchner during a scrimmage that Buchner and Simpson were doing very well and Milroe couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn.

So to think there wasn’t locker room drama around the quarterbacks especially after Saban himself hinted at it seems like a person is just actively avoiding information just because they don’t believe it. Now to what extent is a different question. What I do know is that I have heard credible people claim it was very bad and credible people say it really was typical drama and the real problem is that all 3 quarterbacks were about equal in terms of risks and rewards so they just went with the guy that had the locker room. But one thing they all agree on was there was locker room drama about who was going to be the quarterback.


The Storming of the Bastille was only another Milroe benching away Gump: Well when he comments that he is perplexed about how his team acted during the Rose Bowl by their press conferences, how they played, and how he is shocked by the classlessness of his players after a loss with players throwing helmets (that was a reference directly aimed at Milroe) you kinda see that the Saban way in 23 was not the Saban way of 07-22. So it really isn’t a stretch to suggest that Alabama and Saban weren’t subject to a player revolt.

The Gump version of Bulldog Bob's friend:
Well, i had just had a conversation with someone an hour ago that was at EVERY practice last fall and THIS spring who said that discipline and team unity was really poor and near unmanageable by Saban.

There was no Process last year... Alot of issues with teamwork and immaturity are having to be addressed this spring. Helmet throwing seems to be a favorite showout move within the team.

And to reiterate again, Saban had already made a decision to retire after the season last summer. That rumor was already out around town before the season even started. The decision in January was a reconsideration about continuing on but the undiscipline had already taken root where players flagrantly challenging authority and extorting more NIL money. He reaffirmed his decision to retire likely on the notice that Dobeor was coming.

"The 2023 SEC championship was a miracle" Gump:
If you want to know how in the world we beat Georgia in the SEC championship amid all this season upheaval you have to ask yourself why you believe in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny???

Sometimes magic happens despite reality.

It was almost like the "football gods" wanted to foil a Georgia three-peat and allow CNS to have one more day in the sun before he retired at season's end.

One of these days a long, long time from now, our grandchildren will ask us if Bama really beat Georgia that day for CNS's last SEC championship and we'll be able to set them in our lap and say "Yes, it may be hard to believe but I saw it with my own eyes."

To me, that's how unlikely and unfathomable it was that we beat Georgia on that day considering all the selfish drama of the season.

"I know we weren't really better than Georgia" Gump: I think two often forgotten parts of the Georgia game were that Bowers and Mcconky were hurt and we got the lead off a bad handoff. Neither of those were Milroe's doing but too often Milroe defenders want to parade the game as him having this unreal performance against Georgia. He did well but had we gotten in a shootout vs them then I doubt we win. The defense really won that game. (Unbelievably, this post got 8 likes and no negative emojis, etc.)

"Milroe ain't gonna be getting no Heisman House Nissan money" Gump: I love how so many people continue to not see the smoking gun here. Bond left because of Milroe. Burton had Simpson throwing to him at his pro day. Film evaluators are commenting how open Burton was all last year, but Milroe didn’t throw it to him. Goodness, what more proof do you need that Milroe isn’t a good QB?

The 2018 Mutiny in the Georgia Dome Gump:
There is also this belief that Saban can do no wrong and wouldn’t allow things to happen that the average fan would see as an obvious red flag. To many Alabama fans, Saban never can take blame for something negative, and it really makes having a fruitful discussion possible in cases that involve controversy with the team.

Take this one into account: 2017 to 2018 NCG

The common Alabama fan believes that Saban acted upon instinct and made a swift judgment call to put Tua in the game the second half vs Georgia to win a legendary game.

The alternative story: There was a receiver revolt after the aTm game that Locksley had to put down. Then had to put down again after the Auburn loss and get Saban to put in packages specifically designed around Tua as the quarterback. Then at halftime vs Georgia Saban tried to tear into Daboll only for Daboll to threaten to sit in the locker room if Saban didn’t finally put the quarterback in that the offense is designed around.

The latter is the true story but has less easily accessible links or excerpts about mostly because it makes Saban look mortal. Alabama and New England (with Brady) rarely let drama get too far out of the locker room like other teams did. And it’s conditioned many to just automatically assume that there is no drama whatsoever.

Practice insider Gump:
For 3 years and 5 closed scrimmages I can honestly say between the two (Milroe and Ty) there has only been one good performance between the two and that was Ty this year. Ty has been better in my eyes than Milroe on a consistent basis but until this spring it wasn’t “oh this guy is clearly ahead of Milroe” good. I grant everyone the point that I’m just basically seeing through a small window of information that the average fan isn’t privy to, and that it isn’t the larger window of information that the coaches are.

But however one thing I do know about the situation is that Tyler Buchner was seen by the staff as the eventual starter and that both Simpson and Milroe were both told after the spring by Saban that they had his blessing to transfer if they didn’t like the fact that he was bringing in an experienced starter at quarterback in the summer. I heard that straight from a staffer’s mouth in front of a room full of 200 people in June. That’s why you heard of interest between Milroe and TCU after spring training. But I’m sure that many people want to ignore it because “I can’t see the facts” but it’s something I personally experienced and why I picked TB as the starter on the poll.

FWIW I thought Lonergan was the best option out of all of them last year but in the fall scrimmage Buchner had clearly the best day out the 3 realistic candidates. He didn’t start missing passes until Brooks started walking through routes. And yes it happened and Saban went off on him and you could ever word he said to him as he ran his butt off the field and into the locker room.

This Gump's life would be in no less danger than if he had drawn a cartoon of Mohammed on the Kaaba in Mecca during Ramadan: Let’s not forget the fact that we got some help from the refs on a crucial 4th down pass to Bonds, that clearly hit the ground. A pass, might I add, that should never have been thrown by Milroe, off his back foot no less.
 
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