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Alabama's Saban says he 'may play more than 1' QB in season opener

Matthew Emmons / USA TODAY Sports

Nick Saban is not feeling the pressure to name a starter for Alabama's season opener.

The head coach told the media on Thursday that he wants two quarterbacks primed and ready to play against Wisconsin, with a third on standby, according to ESPN's Brett McMurphy.

Saban is remaining mum on the timetable for naming a starter, if he will at all.

"I'm not saying we're going to do this or that we even want to do this, but we may play more than one guy in the first game," Saban said, according to ESPN's Alex Scarborough.

Saban said that Cooper Bateman, Jake Coker, and Alec Morris have been primarily vying for the first-string spot in camp this week, noting that Coker has been the first quarterback in the practice rotation.

Still, the Crimson Tide head coach will risk naming a starter too early.

"We've been through this several times before," Saban said of crowning a starter. "I think you can name a guy. But if we named a guy and then that guy wasn't the best performer and then we had to unname him, what good does that do?

"So sometimes you run the risk of naming the guy before he's won the team or won the job."

The head coach says he is happy with the progress that all three quarterbacks have made.

But he will wait for confirmation before naming a victor.

"You have to have some clear-cut evidence that a guy really has won the job," Saban explained.

"And you can't make that happen. As bad as I'd like to be able to say, 'This is our starting quarterback' - I would really like to be able to say that. That doesn't mean that we don't have a good quarterback. It means we may have more than one good quarterback."

Saban also added a joke about his lineman playing in the "hurry, no-huddle" offense.

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