Alabama opened spring practice Monday, holding the first of its 14 on-field sessions before its April 22 spring game. And for the first time since 2018, there is legitimate intrigue about who will become Alabama’s starting quarterback as it begins preparing for a new season.

Will it be Jalen Milroe, who started one game last season as a redshirt freshman? Or Ty Simpson, the five-star recruit last year now in his second season? Or one of the two incoming freshmen, Eli Holstein or Dylan Lonergan?

Holding his first news conference Monday since the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31, coach Nick Saban explained where the battle stands.

“Look, I think everybody has an opportunity,” he said. “None of the guys have a significant amount of experience.”

When Bryce Young suffered a shoulder injury last October at Arkansas, Milroe entered. He started the next week against Texas A&M, throwing for 111 yards, three touchdowns and one interception while being sacked four times. He also ran 17 times for 81 yards.

“I think Jalen played one game, half a game where he really had to play a game and he made a lot of plays,” Saban said. “He made plays in a different way than Bryce made plays.”

Simpson attempted only five passes last season in limited late-game action in three contests.

“Ty, who made significant progress throughout the year but never really had much of an opportunity to play in critical situations in a game, is also someone that we think has developed and made a lot of improvement and has a lot of potential to be a pretty good player,” Saban said.

“Then we got two young freshmen that they probably have a long way to go but they’re eager to learn and they’re eager to try and improve and get a better understanding of what we need to do.”

Alabama’s offense lost starting running back Jahmyr Gibbs, starting tight end Cameron Latu and two starting offensive linemen in Tyler Steen and Emil Ekiyor to the NFL draft. But it returns most of its top receivers from last season and two of its top running backs in Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams.

“Development at that [quarterback] position is really gonna be a critical thing for our team this year because I like the players that we have around them,” Saban said.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.