Ty Simpson Gives Initial Thoughts on 2026 NFL Draft, Alabama Return

The redshirt junior quarterback has often been projected to be selected in the first round, but he's "pissed off" with how his season ended.

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson runs for a first down in the first half of the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2026. | Sarah Munzenmaier/Alabama Crimson Tide on SI

PASADENA, Calif. — A lot is about to be put on Ty Simpson's plate.

Alabama fell to Indiana in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, as the Crimson Tide ended its season in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

The Alabama quarterback will need to make a life-altering decision in the near future: should Simpson go to the 2026 NFL Draft or should the redshirt junior stay in Tuscaloosa for another year? Simpson has often been projected to be selected in the first round of the draft, but he shared in the locker room if he's given any thought to it.

“No, not at all,” Simpson said. "I’m just really worried about these last few minutes with these seniors and everybody who won’t be here next year."

Should Simpson leave, assuming neither of the reserves move on, redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell will be competing for the starting spot.

Nevertheless, as Simpson stated, he's only worried about what just happened in "The Grandaddy of Them All."

Simpson "cracked" his rib late in the first half after he took a helmet to his rib and fumbled the ball. He came in to take a knee to end the second half and also played the first drive of the third quarter. But down 24-0, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer felt that leaving Simpson in wouldn't necessarily help the Crimson Tide's comeback effort, as redshirt sophomore Austin Mack subbed in midway through the third quarter.

"It pisses me off, especially knowing that I couldn’t finish the game,“ Simpson said. ”It felt like I had a good thing going on that drive I got hit. It kind of changed the momentum for sure."

He mentioned that Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer's message after the game was through disappointment, as "we didn't put our best foot forward." But Simpson explained that he's "proud of the way our season was and that it had to be ended this way."

So, what will Simpson remember most about this year's team, as the 2026 Alabama Crimson Tide will look a bit different.

"Just how resilient these guys were," Simpson said. "How much it meant to everybody. Starting off losing our first game, losing my first start, all the doubt, all the screaming that we all took, how we all came together and how we're all going to fight for each other.

"Everybody gets mad that 'nobody expected us to be here,' but it's kind of how it was losing to Florida State. We made it to the Rose Bowl, it didn't end the way we wanted to and that's that."

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