Jake Coker

QB · Alabama
Coker took a long and winding road from beginning his college career at Florida State in 2011 to leading Alabama to the national title in 2016. It took five years and losing his grip on a starting job at two powerhouse programs before Coker eventually entrenched himself. Even as a senior, he had to overcome being benched after starting the first two games of the season. He came off the bench against Ole Miss in what proved to be Alabama's only loss during the regular season. He regained the starting job the following week and steadily emerged as the leader of the offense. Coker was a three-star recruit coming out of Mobile, Ala., where he switched from running a wing-T offense to a pro-style offense as a senior at St. Paul's. He promptly led the school to the semifinals of the Alabama state playoffs. He played in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game before enrolling at Florida State, where he redshirted in 2011. He saw brief action in 2012 as a backup to EJ Manuel, completing 3 of 5 passes for 45 yards on the season. Poised to take over the starting job as a redshirt sophomore, Coker was beat out by true freshman Jameis Winston. He played in seven games in 2013, completing 18 of 36 passes for 250 yards on the Seminoles' national championship team. With Winston entrenched as the starter, Coker decided to transfer back to his home state. After sitting out the 2013 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Coker was again poised to emerge as the starting quarterback - this time for Alabama. However, he was again beaten out during fall camp, with Blake Sims winning the job and Coker saw limited time in backup duty, completing 38 of 59 passes for 403 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.