TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Monday before Alabama’s season opener against Louisville, coach Nick Saban was asked what he wanted to see out of his quarterbacks in the inaugural game.

One of his top criteria was distributing the football and instilling confidence in their teammates.

Game 1’s starter, sophomore Tua Tagovailoa, attempted 16 passes Saturday, completing 12 of them and targeting eight different players. On the game’s opening drive, he completed passes to Damien Harris, Irv Smith Jr., DeVonta Smith and Jerry Jeudy, which was a touchdown.

“I do think that Tua is pretty instinctive and made pretty good decisions in the game and got the ball to the right place most of the time,” Nick Saban said. “When you have a lot of players who have the ability to make plays, I think you want them all to be involved in the game and have chances to make plays. It was good that we had a lot of guys who can do that in the game.”

In past seasons, the Crimson Tide’s offense has relied on one player to carry the load.

In 2014, wide receiver Amari Cooper was the playmaker Lane Kiffin tried to get the ball to more often than not, and in 2015, it was Derrick Henry, who won the program’s second Heisman Trophy. In 2016, it was a little more spread out, but last year Calvin Ridley (63) caught nearly 50 more passes than any of his teammate, with the next-closest recording 14.

But the 2018 offense is pick your poison for opponents, with Tagovailoa leading the charge.

“It’s good,” Irv Smith Jr. said. “To touch the ball is always fun and to get everyone involved gets the team going and gets everyone wanting to play faster and go out there and have fun.”

Tua Tagovailoa leads Alabama's offense onto the field versus Louisville.

Alabama has all of its tight ends back, nearly all of its running backs and three wide receivers that saw plenty of the field last year in reserve roles. A new face or two has also been added to the mix. On Saturday, we saw freshman wideout Jaylen Waddle live up to the preseason hype surrounding his name with a few big catches in Orlando, Fla. -- only adding to the list.

With a defense that is breaking in several first-time starters, Saban said this offseason Alabama will need to be able to score more points because of an inexperienced defense, but that does not seem like it will not be an issue on the heels of the first contest. Still, in facing its own offense every day in practice, the Crimson Tide defenders have been tested plenty.

“They have a lot (of playmakers), you can tell. They have a lot,” said safety Deionte Thompson of his team’s offense. “But they get us ready with a fast-paced game because we have the running back corps and the receiving corps. It’s very challenging going against those guys every day. They do a very good job of getting us ready for the competition.”

The big fellas up front are not catching any passes, but they noticed the distribution, too.

“It feels like every time I looked down the field there’s a different guy with the ball,” left tackle Jonah Williams said. “And we have so many talented guys across the board that it’s good to see them getting in on the action.”

Alabama produced 519 yards of total offense in its 51-14 win over Louisville this past weekend in the Camping World Kickoff. And several different players contributed to that production. And with Tagovailoa set to start the Tide’s home opener, do not expect that to change.

“I feel like we haven’t (touched the surface),” Irv Smith Jr. said. “There’s still a lot more to be done. With all the weapons that we have, y’all will see throughout the season what we can do.”



Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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