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Alabama Crimson Tide Are SCARY After Keelon Russell Named QB1! · SEC Football Addiction

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: That was not the only quarterback decision that was decided.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We go to the Alabama Crimson Tide, who named Keelan
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Russell as their starting quarterback. Our Alabama segment presented by PrizePix.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We go to our Alabama homer, Cole Thompson, to talk about, again,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I think they went higher ceiling here. Not a guy
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: that had been in the system for multiple years. This
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  Speaker 1: is probably the one that I liked Russell Cole. I
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  Speaker 1: thought that he should be the pick, but this is
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  Speaker 1: the one that early parts in spring, if you'd asked me,
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  Speaker 1: it probably would have surprised me the most out of
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  Speaker 1: the three quarterbacks that were announced in the last couple
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  Speaker 1: of days. Not because I don't believe in Russell, just
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  Speaker 1: because you had a guy multiple years in the system,
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  Speaker 1: but thoughts on Russell and what he brings to Alabama.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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• 0:46
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  Speaker 3: But for me specifically, the thing that I took away from,
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  Speaker 3: was that it wasn't Austin Mack who lost the starting job,
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  Speaker 3: it's Keelan.
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  Speaker 2: Russell won it.
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  Speaker 3: It's Keelan Russell did everything that you need to see
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  Speaker 3: to feel confident that as a young player, an emerging talent,
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  Speaker 3: a freak of nature athlete, by the way, and potentially
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  Speaker 3: the greatest quarterback prospect and recruit to come through Tuscaloosa,
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  Speaker 3: that's his ceiling. He was able to do the little
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  Speaker 3: things at such a high peak level that he dethroned
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  Speaker 3: Austin Mack from losing that starting job. Austin Mack did
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  Speaker 3: nothing wrong. In fact, if you're an Alabama fan, you
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  Speaker 3: should feel very confident about that quarterback room going into
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  Speaker 3: year three underneath Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb. Because you've
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  Speaker 3: got two guys that you know you can trust are
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  Speaker 3: going to be that difference maker.
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  Speaker 2: That's where you are.
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  Speaker 3: Um, but I think that you got to look at
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  Speaker 3: a lot of the little details that go into this.
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  Speaker 3: What was he doing that offered you a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more upside? Uh, Pate was talking about this actually, I
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  Speaker 3: think yesterday that he went down to a practice and
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  Speaker 3: he mentioned that there were just some plays that you
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  Speaker 3: look at and Austin Mack can't do.
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  Speaker 2: It's not a bad thing.
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  Speaker 3: It's just Austin Mack plays in the system and you
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  Speaker 3: don't have to do those things with a guy like
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  Speaker 3: Keelan Russell. And maybe that's a big time reason that
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  Speaker 3: you were, and maybe that's something that like you don't
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  Speaker 3: worry about when your team is really well put together
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  Speaker 3: and Say like an Ohio State, year in and year out.
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  Speaker 3: A Will Howard, who does have that mobility aspect to
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  Speaker 3: his game, but is in a great system and supporting
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  Speaker 3: cast around him, You can go with him over a
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  Speaker 3: Julian Sang in the veteranship because if you just trust
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  Speaker 3: that he will be able to pick up the pieces.
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  Speaker 3: Where Alabama right now doesn't have that. Alabama has questions
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  Speaker 3: with its running back room. Alabama has questions with its
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  Speaker 3: offensive line. They hired a new offensive.
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  Speaker 2: Line coach this offseason. They also brought in seven new linemen.
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  Speaker 3: They're still trying to work in the pieces together and
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  Speaker 3: kind of make a jigsaw of what this is going
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  Speaker 3: to turn out to be.
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  Speaker 2: And so you have to wonder, with those questions.
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  Speaker 3: Do we go with the guy who has a little
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  Speaker 3: bit more potential to be a threat with his likes?
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  Speaker 3: Alabama ranked outside the top 100 in rushing. That's not
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  Speaker 3: a common theme in Tuscaloosa for anyone. Kalen DeBoer or
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  Speaker 3: a Nick Saban-led roster. It's not supposed to happen that way.
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  Speaker 3: So now that you throw in a quarterback that is
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  Speaker 3: a little bit more mobile, a quarterback that is a
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  Speaker 3: hyper athlete. I mean, the dude was incredible at Duncanville,
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  Speaker 3: but like everything that you see, is there for him
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  Speaker 3: to be able to now make you a threat on
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  Speaker 3: all three stages of the game. Vertical passing, intermediate passing, mobility.
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  Speaker 3: I think the main takeaway than anything else, though, is
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  Speaker 3: that in a day and age where you are living
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  Speaker 3: by the transfer portal, and you and I both know
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  Speaker 3: NIL agents are talking, and the second that you find
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  Speaker 3: out you're not winning a starting job, you got a
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  Speaker 3: phone call waiting on the other side.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, don't play this year.
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  Speaker 3: We need you to go ahead and we'll pay you
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  Speaker 3: X amount of money if you go enter the transfer portal,
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  Speaker 3: sit down, and then become our guy. I think a
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  Speaker 3: lot of Alabama fans will live in a world knowing
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  Speaker 3: that Austin Mack is a good quarterback. Austin Mack is
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  Speaker 3: a fine quarterback and he would win with us. But
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  Speaker 3: we're okay watching him win at Louisville next season with
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  Speaker 3: Jeff Brom. We're okay watching him win at NC State.
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  Speaker 3: If you get the Keelan Russell to hit his ceiling
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  Speaker 3: at a USC, at an LSU... at any other program
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  Speaker 3: in the country, I don't know if Kalen DeBoer can
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  Speaker 3: live that one down. So there's a lot of things
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  Speaker 3: that I think went into the decision. Ultimately, Kalen Russell
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  Speaker 3: proved that he was ready for the big time moments.
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  Speaker 3: And Austin Mack is going to be in a very
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  Speaker 3: good situation where if he gets called upon the way
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  Speaker 3: that Jalen Hurts did back in 2018, he can deliver.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that that might be the possibility.
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  Speaker 3: But Kalen Russell, starting quarterback, I think it was the
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  Speaker 3: right move because of the second that you see him play,
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  Speaker 3: he has enough to give you a little bit more juice.
• 4:28
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• 5:24
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  Speaker 4: It's oddly similar to Tennessee. Not exactly the same type
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  Speaker 4: of athletes, obviously, but I think you just have more
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  Speaker 4: upside with Keelan Russell. I feel for Austin Mack. Obviously,
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  Speaker 4: he's been very committed to Keelan DeBoer and his staff
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  Speaker 4: ever since the days of Washington. It felt like almost
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  Speaker 4: a foregone conclusion when Keelan Russell came along. it sounds
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  Speaker 4: like he's going to potentially give them the ability to
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  Speaker 4: erase some of the things that might crop up offensively
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  Speaker 4: for a team that has to right the ship in
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  Speaker 4: probably both departments. Obviously, Ty Simpson is going to leave
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  Speaker 4: some big shoes to fill in regards to the passing game,
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  Speaker 4: the efficiency that you would get there from Simpson at
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  Speaker 4: times last year. You're going to have to figure out
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  Speaker 4: what's wrong with the running game at some point. Hopefully
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  Speaker 4: they do that this year, and it seems like they've
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  Speaker 4: reworked the offensive line, the running back room, the damage
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  Speaker 4: to A.K. Deere is obvious, but it's still enough room
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  Speaker 4: that I believe has been done with the offensive line.
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  Speaker 4: Not that it doesn't matter who's running the football, but
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  Speaker 4: they have enough depth at that running back position that
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  Speaker 4: I'm not terribly concerned about who the tailback is, if
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  Speaker 4: that makes any sense. I like this decision for Keelan Russell,
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  Speaker 4: and I still think there's a possibility you're going to
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  Speaker 4: see Austin Mack play this year. You don't know how
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  Speaker 4: things are going to shake out. You don't know if
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  Speaker 4: you're going to run into a Jalen Hurts, to a
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  Speaker 4: Tonga Viola situation, to give the direct callback for Alabama fans.
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  Speaker 4: It's entirely possible if Austin Mack gets the recommendation for
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  Speaker 4: him to just chill and sit for the season. It's
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  Speaker 4: kind of a reason for why we're in the situation
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  Speaker 4: we're in in college football. It's young student athletes like
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  Speaker 4: this wanting to get an opportunity. He's been loyal. He's
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  Speaker 4: been consistent. He's been working. Somebody was a little bit better.
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  Speaker 4: He needs to go somewhere where he can play. Maybe
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  Speaker 4: that's at Alabama at some point this season. Maybe it's
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  Speaker 4: someplace else. So I sincerely hope the best for Austin Mack.
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  Speaker 4: But I'm encouraged by this. I really want to see
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  Speaker 4: what Keelan Russell is capable of, and I've been saying
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  Speaker 4: it throughout the offseason. The most important quarterback battle in
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  Speaker 4: college football this offseason was taking place in Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
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  Speaker 4: and you have the possibility with Keelan Russell's skill set
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  Speaker 4: for him to contend for the Heisman. I know there's
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  Speaker 4: not a lot of people that want to hear that.
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  Speaker 4: The individual award doesn't necessarily matter, but I think the
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  Speaker 4: top-end ability that Russell gives you is a really strong
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  Speaker 4: chance to make the playoff, and gives you a chance
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  Speaker 4: to have that quarterback where you feel confident moving forward.
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  Speaker 4: And I think there were even times last year with
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  Speaker 4: Ty Simpson, people had their questions about him, but now
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  Speaker 4: you have a quarterback who's going to potentially give you
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  Speaker 4: a little bit more in the passing game that Jalen
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  Speaker 4: Milrow did just a handful of seasons ago. Alabama fans
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  Speaker 4: should be excited about this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, okay. Real fast, but there's, there's two main points.
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  Speaker 2: Number one, and TJ brought this up.
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  Speaker 3: Um, the more upside quarterback gets the starting droll, the
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  Speaker 3: Tennessee and Alabama.
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  Speaker 2: I do think at Alabama, Keelan Russell had to earn
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  Speaker 2: the starting job.
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  Speaker 3: I think with Tennessee, you basically were waiting for a
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  Speaker 3: moment where maybe they separated, and then when you didn't
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  Speaker 3: have that, you said, okay, Faison.
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  Speaker 2: Brandon, that's the guy.
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  Speaker 3: Where I think at Alabama, they would have been fine
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  Speaker 3: trotting out week one, ECU. They would have been fine
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  Speaker 3: trotting out Austin Mack. You had to win the starting job.
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  Speaker 2: You did.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing is that this will be the first
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  Speaker 3: time And remember this, guys. This will be the first
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  Speaker 3: time in Tuscaloosa we will see a Kalen DeBoer-picked quarterback
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  Speaker 3: running a Kalen DeBoer offense. You're one of us, Jalen Milrow,
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  Speaker 3: a Nick Saban quarterback that then ran an offense. And again,
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  Speaker 3: super athletic, and they said, screw it, we're just going
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  Speaker 3: to go ahead and have the athlete play. Then you
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  Speaker 3: get Ty Simpson, who fits the mold of the quarterback,
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  Speaker 3: I think, of what you want with a guy for
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  Speaker 3: Kalen DeBoer, but not a Kalen DeBoer recruit. This is
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  Speaker 3: a Kalen DeBoer offense. Imagine if last season was.
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  Speaker 2: The lowest point of what we see in the Caleb
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  Speaker 2: DeBoer era.
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  Speaker 3: With that offense. I'm going to say, you should, if
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: you are an Alabama fan, feel so confident in that
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  Speaker 3: quarterback room. Because of what we have seen in the
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  Speaker 3: track record of Kalen DeBoer throughout his entirety of college football.
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  Speaker 3: Whether it be at Fresno State, whether it be when
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  Speaker 3: he was the offensive coordinator at Indiana, when he went
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  Speaker 3: to Washington.
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  Speaker 2: He knows quarterbacks.
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  Speaker 3: And when he gets his guys, he knows how to
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  Speaker 3: develop them and turn them into something promising. So I'm
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  Speaker 3: just throwing that out there. Do not be surprised if
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  Speaker 3: this is such a good quarterback room. that you're kind
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  Speaker 3: of like, how is Alabama sitting at 10-2? How is
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  Speaker 3: Alabama back in Atlanta? How is Alabama competing for a
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  Speaker 3: first-round buy?
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  Speaker 2: Because it's possible.
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  Speaker 3: It is. And I don't know if it would be
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  Speaker 3: possible with Austin Mack. It certainly is with Keelan Russell.
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  Speaker 1: I hope the low part of that offense really actually
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  Speaker 1: comes in week three of this season. Yeah, week three
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  Speaker 1: of this season. But we'll see. All jokes aside, I
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: do think that this could end up being phenomenal to watch.
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  Speaker 1: Really both quarterback battles. The one we're not talking about
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  Speaker 1: today in Florida is maybe the one that, again, not surprising,
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  Speaker 1: but with Florida specifically, go with Philo. That's the one
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  Speaker 1: where I feel like they didn't go with the highest ceiling,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and I wonder how the first coach– First year coach
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: kind of angle plays into that, but maybe.