Take your pick: Who will Alabama start at quarterback in 2016?

9:39 AM ET

Spring practice has wrapped up across the SEC, and the top storyline for most teams coming out of it is still the quarterback position. Some teams named a starter in the spring. Others are leaving it open until fall camp begins in August.

This week, we’ll examine five of these open competitions in the conference and debate who we think each team should choose as its starting quarterback.

Next up are the defending national champions, Alabama.

Alex Scarborough: Look, I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to predicting who Alabama’s quarterback will be. In 2014, I said time and time again how there was no way Blake Sims would win the job and proclaimed Jake Coker the starter/savior as early as that spring. And I ended up being dead wrong — or, at best, half correct and a year off. So rather than trust my gut again, I’ll try to make an educated guess using my brain.

As of today, I’d be surprised if Cooper Bateman wasn’t the starter in the Sept. 3 opener against USC. He’s the safe pick; I realize that. But he’s the safe pick for a reason. He’s the most experienced quarterback on the roster, and in each of the past two seasons, coach Nick Saban has gone with fifth-year seniors. While Bateman might not have the arm of a David Cornwell or the big-play ability of a Blake Barnett or Jalen Hurts, he’s trusted by the coaching staff. And that word — “trust” — is worth a lot more than words like “potential” and “upside.” You can go ahead and call him a game manager, but that ability to take care of the football and …

continue reading in source espn.go.com