One might be an aberration, two could be a coincidence, but three, well that's a trend.

Hawaiian four-star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's recent commitment to Alabama entrenched a recent trend of the type of quarterbacks Alabama pursues.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has developed a reputation for preferring game manager, pro-style quarterbacks, but he certainly hasn't been recruiting that prototype lately.

Dual-threat quarterbacks have intrigued Saban for quite some time, but a seismic change seemingly occurred when Alabama signed five-star quarterback Blake Barnett out of Corona, Calif. Barnett is a capable passer, but he made a lot of things happen with his legs in high school. Alabama fans haven't seen much of Barnett yet after he redshirted his freshman season, but it's easy to see he's a significantly more dynamic quarterback than many of Alabama's previous starting quarterbacks in the Saban era.

Barnett was simply the start, though.

Last recruiting cycle Alabama held off Texas A&M to sign four-star quarterback Jalen Hurts. Hurts immediately helped Alabama in January when he imitated Deshaun Watson as a scout-team quarterback in the lead up to the national championship game. During Alabama's A-Day spring game in April, Hurts may have looked the best out of any of Alabama's four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Hurts still needs to work on his passing abilities, but it's clear he has that innate ability to make something happen when everything breaks down around him. He has a better chance at winning the starting quarterback job than most expected when he arrived in January and is viewed very highly both inside and outside the program.

Tagovailoa is another dual-threat quarterback pull for Alabama from the west coast. Rated as the nation's No. 2 dual-threat quarterback by 247Sports, the 6-foot-1 quarterback is in a similar mold as Hurts. In his last two seasons as a starter at Saint Louis School, Tagovailoa has rushed for a combined 1,057 yards and 19 touchdowns.

"When the lights come on, he goes into a different mode," Saint Louis quarterbacks coach Vince Passas told AL.com. "He's just in a zone. He has great escapability."

Outsiders have attributed Alabama's pursuit of dual-threat quarterbacks to offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, and there's probably truth to that. Quarterbacks such as Barnett and Hurts make more sense in Kiffin's preferred offense than say former Alabama quarterback Alec Morris.

But Kiffin won't be at Alabama forever -- three years is already longer than most would have predicted -- and yet Saban is clearly building his future around dual-threat quarterbacks. Saban made what he deemed a necessary move to become more uptempo on offense, and his recruiting signifies he views that as the long-term strategy for his program.

After years of quarterbacks such as Greg McElroy and John Parker Wilson, Tagovailoa is the new normal at Alabama.