Blake Barnett and Cooper Bateman thought that they would be the primary quarterbacks last season for Alabama football, but this turned out not to be the case.
Bateman said he was under the impression that Jalen Hurts, the current Alabama quarterback would be the starting QB. Barnett claims he was told Hurts would only be playing in certain “zone-read packages”.
Barnett was the starter during the season opener, but was replaced by Hurts after only two offensive series. According to the New York Post, Barnett expected Hurts to go in the game for that series, but when he kept going back in he became confused about what was going on.
After just one game, Barnett and Bateman began thinking about joining a different program in order to give them the opportunities they thought they would be getting at Alabama. Barnett ended up leaving the program after just four games and is now at Arizona State fighting for the starting spot.
Bateman stayed with the team through the playoffs and is now fighting for the quarterback spot at Utah.