After a rocky first half of football from the Alabama offense, Nick Saban isn’t messing around in the second half. True freshman Tua Tagovailoa has replaced Jalen Hurts at quarterback as the second half is underway in Atlanta.
Hurts was 3-of-8 for 21 yards and rushed six times for a team-high 47 yards in the first half. Hurts picked up 31 of those yards on one play. After Alabama was shut out by the Georgia defense in the first half, and with Alabama trailing 13-0, this is out of the ordinary for Saban under these conditions. Saban has never shied away from playing multiple quarterbacks to try and figure out who is the best option to run with, but that typically happens in the beginning of the season, not the end.
Tagovailoa was a four-star recruit out of Hawaii for Alabama in the Class of 2017. Rivals ranked him the third among dual-threat quarterbacks in the recruiting class. After completing one pass for two yards, Alabama’s offense went three-and-out to start the second half.