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CBS Sports analyst Gary Danielson saw great improvement in Jake Coker by the end of the 2014 season. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

CBS Sports college football analyst Gary Danielson was talking one of his favorite topics on the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday -- quarterbacks -- and he had some interesting things to say about Alabama's Jake Coker.

"Two years ago, I really got on Zach Mettenberger and said I thought he could be the breakout quarterback when the year before as a junior he was just so-so," said Danielson, a former NFL quarterback with the Detroit Lions. "The first time I went and watched Jake Coker player in practice, I heard his hype and I was somewhat disappointed. I thought he was throwing flat-footed, his throws sailed all practice. He obviously wasn't ready. Maybe it was mentally, maybe he just didn't feel comfortable.

"But at the end of the year, when I went and watched him throw, I thought, 'My, this guy's got a Zach Mettenberger arm.'"

At 6-5, 235 pounds, Mettenberger is about the same size as Coker and is known for a howitzer arm. He threw for 3,082 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior in 2013, leading the Tigers to a 10-3 record.

Coker, a Mobile native who transferred to Alabama from Florida State in 2014, competed for the starting job last season but was ultimately beaten out by Blake Sims. He is again considered a front-runner for the job this season, as a competition with David Cornwell and several others will continue into the fall.

Danielson acknowledged that his impressions from last fall don't necessarily mean Coker will win that competition.

"Now, will he ever get comfortable in the offense?" Danielson asked of Coker. "I know he's got some young guys right behind him that are going to push him. But he has the tools to take that offense and make every throw that Mettenberger made for LSU in that one year when they could have won the championship."

Danielson might have forgotten LSU's 38-17 loss to Alabama in 2013 in making that last statement, but the physical comparison with Mettenberger -- a sixth round draft pick in 2014 who started about half the season for the Tennessee Titans -- is a compliment.

Another quarterback pegged by Danielson as a potential breakout candidate for 2015: Arkansas' Brandon Allen. Danielson said he believes new Razorbacks offensive coordinator Dan Enos could take Allen and the offense to the next level.