TUSCALOOSA | Quick, no googling: Name three returning starters at quarterback in the Southeastern Conference.
... Well? ...
Chris Relf of Mississippi State doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does he? Stephen Garcia might, if he weren't indefinitely suspended and perhaps no more than a parking ticket away from getting his permanent walking papers from South Carolina. Nick Saban may have sung the song about inexperienced quarterbacks throughout spring practice, but in that respect, the University of Alabama coach was only part of a much larger chorus.
Whereas the SEC is typically rife with proven quarterback talent, the 2011 season figures to be one of growing pains for most. At least half the league, perhaps more depending on Garcia's eventual fate, figures to play a first-time or a part-time starter at the position next season.
At Alabama, an inexperienced starter this fall will be a given - the only question is whether that inexperienced starter will be A.J. McCarron or Phillip Sims.
"It's important that those guys continue to develop the kind of knowledge, experience, confidence in doing their job, as well as the confidence of the people around them that they can trust and respect and believe that we can execute with those guys," said Saban.
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