Jalen Hurts appeared to show enough in the spring game to convince Alabama fans sweating the quarterback battle that the reigning SEC Offensive Player Year was, in fact, the best option under center in Tuscaloosa.

Hurts showed nice touch on his deep ball in the first bit of televised action since offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was hired, and that, paired with his extraordinary running ability and a stable full of blue chip running backs, alleviated the murmurs that the rising sophomore could be unseated by early enrollee freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in 2017. 

One person who has great insight on both players and the world behind the scenes at Alabama is former Tide offensive coordinator and current FAU head coach Lane Kiffin. Joining 102.9 in Tuscaloosa this week to catch up on all things Owls and Tide, Kiffin provided a scouting report on Hurts' primary competition for starter's snaps. 

"He's different," Kiffin said of Tagovailoa, via Alabama's SEC Country podcast. "Where we talked about Jalen coming in a little more raw, Tua's been doing this forever. I call him 'the human jugs machine' because he can throw a ball all day long and never gets tired. 

"[Tagovailoa is] a lot more trained and [will have] less transition from his high school system. He's going to be a phenomenal player, best comparison I think would probably be Steve Young. Smooth release like that, not fast but really quick feet and smooth release."

Kiffin acknowledged that it's "tough" and "difficult" to manage the competition between two young superstars and credited the play of Blake Sims for changing the reputation of Alabama quarterbacks as "game managers."