Story Confirmed: Hatch Injured

Well, crap.

There's a good reason why freshman quarterback Jordan Jefferson is getting ready to play Saturday against Tulane. 9-sports has learned fellow back-up Andrew Hatch suffered a leg fracture in Saturday's game against Georgia and has been on crutches this week with an injury that will sideline number-14 several weeks.

So, JJ will now find his shoulder magically healed and is the first guy off the bench should something happen to Lee.  With the injury to Hatch, I think Miles has almost no choice but to play Jefferson against Tulane, giving him some live game action in case he is needed for Bama.  We don't want a guy who has never taken a snap in anger getting his first meaningful action against Bama. 

Lee is stil lthe starter.  The interceptions suck, but that's just part of playing a redshirt freshman.  Matthew Stafford, the Georgia quarterback who tore us a new one who is being mentioned as a big time NFL prospect, was hardly a world-beater in his first year back in 2006.  Here's his first year line:

135-256, 1749 yards, 7 TD, 13 INT

Here's Jarret Lee's:

98-169, 1328 yards, 11 TD, 9 INT

So let's stop panicking that Lee is some horrid quarterback who will never be a good SEC player.  He's already doing okay right now.  He's going to get better.  This isn't about benching Lee, but we do need to have some insurance.  Jefferson needs to get some snaps.

Burn the redshirt.  Do it against Tulane.  Let the Jordan Jefferson Era begin.