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Quarterback tide turns at 'Bama
After an offseason filled with speculation, after a competition that began in spring practice and extended through the first two weeks of the fall, Alabama coach Mike DuBose announced Wednesday that junior Andrew Zow will be his starting quarterback and that sophomore Tyler Watts will play, too. In other words, it's the exact same arrangement that the Crimson Tide used a year ago. You might have thought this race had all the suspense of a old-time Chicago election. It's been said that the late Mayor Richard Daley would poll five people and his side would win 9-0. DuBose and quarterbacks coach Charlie Stubbs have made throwing the deep ball a priority, and Zow has the stronger arm of the two candidates. Watts has quicker feet and a greater ability to escape defenders. But DuBose swears this was no puppet show. In fact, at the end of last season, DuBose believed Watts would win the job. "Tyler was a little bit ahead," DuBose says. "I really expected Tyler to separate himself a little bit in the spring. But Andrew came back and had a good spring and he started right where he left off in the fall." Zow was comfortably ahead of Watts last season until the second quarter of the Tennessee game on Oct. 23. Zow sprained his ankle in the 21-7 loss and never was the same. Watts started two games and came off the bench to replace an ineffective Zow and lead the Tide to a 28-17 victory over Auburn. "Now that I look back on it," Zow says, "I lost confidence in myself and in my ability." Not any longer. In the team's last full-scale scrimmage, Zow completed 18 of 27 passes. Three of the incompletions were dropped balls. Zow is a year ahead of Watts and at least a season more mature; he's also married and has a son. He has made quicker decisions behind the line, too. His ankle still gives him a tweak now and then to remind him who is boss. "I'm trying to win a starting job," Zow says. "There's no time for me to worry about that ankle. Once I step in this building, I'm not worried about my ankle." Fine, fine. But when he leaves the field, "I feel like I'm an old man. I crack and pop. I try to sneak up on my son and I'm cracking and popping." The coming weeks will be a test of Watts's maturity as well. DuBose used every semantic ploy he could summon to say that Watts is not a backup. A quarterback battle handled poorly can divide a team. All hands on the Tide deck handled it well last season and the team flourished. DuBose has sold both players -- and all their teammates, for that matter -- on the common good. With that settled, Alabama has the luxury of depth at quarterback, a rarity in the 85-scholarship world. And don't forget wide receiver Freddie Milons, who lined up at quarterback a few times last season with spectacular results. For that matter, Alabama has depth everywhere, which is the reason the Tide is favored to win the Southeastern Conference and challenge to be atop the polls for the national championship. DuBose can't rig that one, either. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers the college football beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Catch Ivan Saturday mornings on CNN's "College Football Preview."
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