Alabama’s starting quarterback battle is easily the most intriguing in the country. Jalen Hurts, who has started for the Crimson Tide the past two years, was benched at halftime of the national title game against Georgia this past January for Tua Tagovailoa, who promptly led the team to a come-from-behind victory. So who should start when the team starts its 2018 campaign?

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum says that he knows the answer. He says his sources have told him that Tagovailoa has won the job, and there’s a kicker.

Finebaum says that Hurts is in a battle with Mac Jones for the backup role. If Jones wins that battle, it would be quite the fall from grace for Hurts.

Finebaum made the statement on his radio show on Monday. Here’s what he had to say:

“I’m sure by now that some of you folks at Alabama have been hearing and reading, and again, I don’t want to upstage Nick Saban, but based on what I’ve heard – apparently select boosters get to go to these scrimmages on the weekend and they’re not allowed to tweet or text or tell anyone what they said even though several have told me what they saw – and guys (Randy and John) I don’t know how much longer Nick Saban is going to be able to camouflage this quarterback competition.

(Tua is) going to be the starter. He looked very good. One person indicated to me that right now, there’s a competition for backup.”

Finebaum is very dialed in with most SEC programs. That said, Alabama head coach Nick Saban is one of the most secretive coaches in the country. It’ll be interesting to see if Finebaum winds up being right.

Alabama is scheduled to open its season against Louisville on September 1.