Which Alabama Position is 'Getting Coached Better' Than Any Room in the Country?

Alabama will start Ty Simpson as its quarterback on Saturday for the season opener against Florida State, but this decision took several months to make.

The redshirt junior was competing for the QB1 spot with redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell for quite some time, and head coach Kalen DeBoer was amazed by the efforts of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and quarterback coach Nick Sheridan to develop this trio throughout the battle.

"Our quarterback room is getting coached better than any other quarterback room in the country," DeBoer said on 'Hey Coach' Wednesday evening. "The reps, the individual work that these guys need to have because every guy is at a different spot with their skillsets, those attention to details are taken care of. These guys are challenged."

Sheridan was named Alabama's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before last season after Grubb left the Crimson Tide just a couple of weeks into February 2024 for the Seattle Seahawks' OC position. But Grubb was relieved from Seattle after last season ended, and DeBoer brought him back while making Sheridan the quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Grubb and Sheridan have meshed very well this offseason and their collaboration in the quarterbacks room has helped create DeBoer's "Our quarterback room is getting coached better than any other quarterback room in the country" take.

"But talk about the character of the quarterbacks, this is a unique situation with Ryan Grubb," DeBoer said. "It's just unique because of our time together, but now you put him with Nick [Sheridan] and you've got an all-star crew.

"Ryan Grubb is the coordinator, he's going to call plays and oversee all of it in his mind and see the direction it goes. But I could tell you there's a number of guys, and Grubb does a great job of going to different guys to ask questions. If it's O-line related, he feels good about his knowledge of the O-Line, but he's going to talk to coach [Chris Kapilovic].

"But when it comes to quarterback play and even the offense in general, Nick's right there with great answers, great hypotheticals, the what-ifs, all of those devil's advocate type things that you need to have and someone is doing it in a non-threatening way."

As for Simpson, Mack and Russell, DeBoer has been perhaps most impressed with their abilities to work together despite competing for a one-man job.

"It's a special room full of guys, first of all men, that are just great people and then great players too. It was great seeing these guys go about it, test each other and push each other, but do it in a healthy way. That's really hard to do.

"These guys are as supportive of each other as any quarterback room I've ever seen from top to bottom, and that's what's really cool. They have a genuine respect for each other and only want the best out of each guy."

We'll get to see Grubb and Sheridan work with Simpson in Doak Campbell Stadium on Aug. 30 in Tallahassee. The trip to Florida State marks the first time Alabama will begin a season on the road since 2020 and the first non-conference road pairing to begin a year since 2000 at UCLA.

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