Cooper Bateman has gotten the most work with the first-team offense in practice among Alabama's four scholarship quarterbacks.

The redshirt junior has also started with the first-team offense in both of the Tide's spring scrimmages.

However, coach Nick Saban said Thursday that "there really isn't any separation" in the quarterback competition entering Alabama's spring game on Saturday, which will be a final opportunity for the quarterbacks to impress prior to fall camp in August.

"I think how a guy goes out there and plays in a real game-like situation (matters) because the first-team will be playing against the first-team and the second-team will be playing against the second-team, so it will be pretty equal competition for each player," Saban said. "They're all going to have a lot of opportunities, and I think how they handle and manage that situation is really, really important, how they manage the game as well as the decision-making and execution that they have to have to have success and move the team."

Saban has been most complimentary of Bateman throughout the spring.

He said the two most experienced quarterbacks -- Bateman and redshirt sophomore David Cornwell -- did the best during the Tide's first spring scrimmage.

He again praised Bateman following the second scrimmage on Saturday, referencing the importance of being able to move the team before noting that Bateman "moved the team a lot."

Saban, however, went on to also compliment freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts on Saturday, saying that Hurts "did a nice job" before adding that Cornwell also "did a pretty good job."

Redshirt freshman Blake Barnett, a former five-star recruit, is also in the mix for the starting quarterback job.

"I think all the quarterbacks need to play with consistency and execute the plays, don't try to make a play when the play's not there, don't think that every play has to be a home run," Saban said in reference to a question about Barnett. "You've heard me say this many times before, maybe in the last press conference even, if every series ends in a kick -- whether it's a punt, an extra point or a field goal -- we can live with that. We can't live with turning the ball over. So all the quarterbacks need to take care of the ball. All of the quarterbacks need to execute the offense because that's what the other players expect, and I think that's how they will develop confidence -- I'm talking about the quarterbacks themselves -- and how players will develop confidence in them.

"But I think the biggest thing that all these quarterbacks need to do is they need to win their teammates. They need to show that they can do those things on a consistent basis because -- once they do that -- you can become the type of leader you need to really impact the other players on offense and develop the kind of chemistry that you need to develop."