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Alabama head coach Nick Saban is being cautious with quarterbacks this spring while also stressing ball security and improving the passing game.

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A running quarterback has an extra risk of taking shots whenever he gets out of the pocket. In his freshman season, Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts survived the season with health intact, but with spring practice underway for the Crimson Tide, head coach Nick Saban is being a bit cautious with Hurts and his fellow teammates under center.

“I don’t think it’s worth getting a guy hurt in practice trying to prove the point that we’re going to make them a little tougher, especially at the quarterback position,” Saban said.

With a new offensive coordinator in Brian Daboll and analyst Chris Weinke, the focus of the spring, according to Saban, is “trying to develop a better passing game.”

That isn’t to say that it is a contact-free spring for Hurts and his competitor Tua Tagovailoa, the true freshman from Hawaii. With the ball in the hands of a quarterback who likes to run, ball security is as important as ever.

“One of the things that we do, if the quarterback is going to run the ball, we put him in some …. turnover drills before practice,” Saban said. “Drills that are basically tackle-and-strip drills, we’ll put the quarterbacks in those drills. So, in a controlled situation they’re getting hit, the ball is getting stripped. Certainly, ball security is something. If we’re going to run the quarterbacks, (that) has got to be an important thing for them.”

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