Watch Nick Saban Discuss Alabama’s Quarterback Battle [VIDEO]

As one of the most widely talked about position races in the nation this offseason, naturally it came up as a topic of conversation.

On Wednesday evening, following the completion of Alabama’s first day of practice of the new school year on campus, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban discussed the current status of the starting job heading into the team’s second scrimmage this weekend.

“The quarterback decision is going to get made by what the players do on the field, who performs the best, who does the best job of leading the team, making good choices and decisions, taking care of the ball,” Saban said at the press conference. “That’s how it’s going to get decided. We’re sort of monitoring that every day.”

On Monday of this week, the position battle took a slight twist when Jake Coker, still viewed by many as the leader to win the starting job, was unexpectedly absent from both of the Crimson Tide’s two-a-day practices.

A day after working with head trainer Jeff Allen on the sideline during practice, however, Coker returned to his usual spot at the head of the quarterback line during passing drills Wednesday.

“Jake’s toe (surgery) went very well,” said Saban, who described the injury as a “minor foot injury” in a released statement on Monday. “We don’t expect him to be out more than. It’s day-to-day, but maybe another day or two.”

Alabama, ranked No. 3 in the preseason coaches poll, has just over two weeks to come to a decision on a starter for its season opener against Wisconsin in Arlington on Sept. 5.

In an effort to narrow down the five-man field of Coker, David Cornwell, Alec Morris, Cooper Bateman and Blake Barnett, Saban previously said he may start tilting reps toward the leaders in the race, which could come into effect for the team’s second scrimmage this Saturday.

“Jake’s been out this week, so we thought that the two guys that probably played a little better in the (first) scrimmage,” Saban said. “Alex (Alec Morris) did a nice job and Cooper Bateman did a nice job in the scrimmage. Jake (Coker) did OK, but he hasn’t been able to practice all week. And we feel Blake (Barnett) is a young guy we feel we need to continue to try to develop.

“So those four guys are kind of – three of them have been in the mix this week in terms of how we’ve tried to split up the reps and we’ll continue to evaluate them on a day-to-day basis and see where it takes us.”

Watch the player interviews from Wednesday below: