AL.com sent the same text message to three separate people who were in attendance for Alabama's scrimmage Saturday.

The question: Which players impressed you most today?

Each of the three mentioned Tide freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Saturday was another positive step for Hurts as he looks to become the first true freshman quarterback to start at Alabama under Nick Saban.

The dynamic freshman from Texas had standout moments throughout the spring, has continued to impress people inside the Tide program through the summer and the first week-plus of fall camp, and sources told AL.com that Hurts was the most impressive of Alabama's quarterbacks Saturday.

The media isn't allowed to watch Tide scrimmages. However, sources told AL.com that Hurts had a touchdown run of around 50 yards and a nicely-thrown scoring pass of around 50 yards to wide receiver Robert Foster against Alabama's third-team defense. He also led a long drive into the red zone vs. the first-team defense during a two-minute drill before throwing an interception with no time left on the clock.

Those weren't Hurts' only impressive moments Saturday.

"Jalen is a very talented guy, and I thought he did some really good things out there today," Saban said following the scrimmage. "I think he does really good things each and every day. I think the key for both younger guys (Hurts and redshirt freshman Blake Barnett) is consistency in performance, taking care of the ball and taking what the defense gives and being satisfied with that."

The three quarterbacks in the mix for the starting job -- redshirt junior Cooper Bateman, Barnett and Hurts -- all got reps with the first-team offense Saturday.

While Alabama didn't release stats, Saban said all three "did some really good things" and that all three "would sit and tell you if you asked them that question that there were things that they could have done better and that there were also decisions that they made that they'd like to have back."

Bateman, according to sources, threw two interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown by freshman defensive back Shyheim Carter. He also threw two touchdowns during the red zone portion of practice while working with the first-team offense.

Barnett had long completions to ArDarius Stewart and Foster in addition to a touchdown to Stewart while working with the first-team offense.

Barnett threw an interception during a two-minute drill period, but it was under similar circumstances as Hurts'. Time was running out and no one was open.

"(They) all had an equal opportunity with each group actually," Saban said. "So I think it sort of gave us a good idea who might be most ready to manage the team, but I think that decision is far from getting made. Just my feeling based on watching the scrimmage today on the field. But I'll watch the film and sort of see, get a better feeling for how many balls got dropped and did they throw it in the right place all the time, how did they execute, what was their decision-making, how did they manage the team, what was their leadership like (and) how did the team function when they were in there. I think when we watch the film, we'll get a little better feel for that."

The reality? It seems like all three quarterbacks are legitimately in the mix to win the job.

Bateman has the most experience and did the best job of any of the quarterbacks during the spring of limiting mistakes and executing the offense the way coaches want it run.

Barnett is a former five-star recruit who showed his arm talent with a perfectly-placed touchdown pass of around 40 yards while rolling to his left during the Tide's open practice last weekend. The 6-foot-5 California native has also put on some needed weight. He is up from 198 pounds during the spring to around 215.

But Hurts is special. That's the growing belief inside the Alabama program. Special enough that it's looking increasingly realistic that he will be the Tide's starting quarterback at some point early in the season.

"If you come in as (an early enrollee) and you perform well at all, you're going to be pretty good because most of the guys will struggle a lot," offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said of Hurts, the third-ranked dual-threat quarterback in this year's recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. "Very, very special skill set. Very strong kid. One of our top lifters in strength, 40s, vertical. He's just continuing to learn a completely new system from what he was in high school. That transition for all players, especially quarterbacks, is difficult. But he's handled it really well, and we're really excited about what he's done and some of the plays that he makes that are not in rhythm plays because of his ability to make big plays."