"So quit asking": Nick Saban once had stern response to question on who is a better QB between Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa

Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban once had a stern response after being asked which quarterback was better between Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa.

Hurts and Tagovailoa were both part of Alabama's roster, and throughout the season, questions of the quarterbacks were prominent. After a Crimson Tide 51-14 win over Louisville on September 1, 2018, Saban was asked a question about his quarterbacks, which he snapped on reporter Maria Taylor.

"Well, I still like both guys. I think both guys are good players," Saban said to Taylor. "I think both guys can help our team, all right? So why do you continually try to get me to say something that doesn't respect one of them? I'm not going to. So quit asking."

Nick Saban ended up calling the reporter to apologize after the exchange, as the coach didn't need to get as heated as he did to the question about his quarterbacks.

In that game, Tagovailoa started and went 12-for-16 for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Hurts also played and was 5-for-9 for 70 yards.

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Nick Saban explains why he played Tua Tagovailoa over Jalen Hurts against Georgia

Throughout the 2017 season, Nick Saban had been playing both Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts.

In a game against Georgia, Hurts started the game, but due to his struggles, Saban turned to Tagovailoa, and he explained why he decided to do that.

"Well, we knew, in this game against Georgia — because their front was so good — that we were going to have to throw the ball to have a chance to be successful in the game," Saban explained, via 247Sports. “And we went through the first half and Jalen was struggling a little bit, so we made the decision before that game ever started that if we struggled throwing the ball we were going to go to Tua. We did, he came through, made a great play that won the game at the end of the game in overtime, so that was a great championship."

Hurts ended up spending one more season at Alabama before transferring to Oklahoma and he became a Heisman finalist in 2019. Meanwhile, Tagovailoawas was drafted fifth overall in 2020 by the Miami Dolphins.

Both Hurts and Tagovailoa have become starting quarterbacks in the NFL.