Ryan Grubb Reveals Alabama Quarterback He'd Start if Season Kicked Off Tomorrow

The Crimson Tide offensive coordinator shared that redshirt junior Ty Simpson is very likely to be the Week 1 starter.

Nov 9, 2024; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson (15) calls for the ball against the LSU Tigers during the second half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The question is asked every day around Tuscaloosa during this time of year: Who is going to be Alabama's quarterback for the upcoming season?

The Crimson Tide has been and still is holding a three-man quarterback competition between redshirt junior Ty Simpson, redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell this spring.

Well, on Monday, while the quarterback battle is still ongoing, Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb hinted at the potential Week 1 starter.

“At the end of the day, if we’re playing a football game tomorrow, Ty Simpson would start,” Grubb said. “He earned that..."Just with some of the nuances and taking care of the football and things like that, I thought Ty showed out a little bit better."

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said last Thursday that he doesn't "feel like they're to the point where there's separation," but fans got to see a certain order from the quarterback trio on A-Day. They each rotated with certain unit levels but for the most part, Simpson was with the 1s, Mack was with the 2s and Russell led the 3s.

Simpson, who has been and still is the frontrunner for Alabama's Week 1 starting job, proved a bit why that's the case on Saturday. He didn't necessarily make any crazy throws or do something wild, but his conservative play style in this practice (not a live game) environment led to consistent gains on every type of drill. He had a few incompletions a couple of which were overthrows, but Simpson threw a really nice 50-yard touchdown and also had an accurate cross-body completion.

DeBoer previously stated that this would be the case for Russell mainly due to his lack of experience, but the 2024-25 Gatorade National Player of the Year turned a lot of heads on Saturday. After throwing an interception on his very first throw of the practice, he was cool, calm and collected for the rest of the day, as he showed consistency on numerous deep ball drills with a small number of incompletions. Russell also threw a couple of touchdowns during a 7-on-7 red zone drill.

The Alabama quarterbacks participated in a couple of drills that didn't have any defense going against them, and while this won't be a possibility on gameday, Mack was the most accurate among the trio. He unofficially went 16-for-20 on indie/go balls, completed each 10-yard curl and went 31 of 32 during a concurrent drill with the other quarterbacks involving the majority of the route tree. However, he had a couple of interceptions and was a bit inconsistent against the Tide's secondary.

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