Ryan Grubb doubles down on Ty Simpson as frontrunner in Alabama QB competition

In April, at the end of spring practice, Ryan Grubb said Ty Simpson would be Alabama’s starting quarterback if the season started that day. It was a big update in the quarterback competition as Simpson went up against Austin Mack and freshman Keelon Russell.

Speaking on Tide 100.9’s The Game on Thursday, Grubb doubled down. He reiterated Simpson is the frontrunner because of his performance in the spring.

Simpson, Mack and Russell will continue to battle through summer workouts and into training camp to become Alabama’s starting QB. But with Simpson in particular, Grubb saw a level of improvement from the redshirt junior that stood out compared to other older quarterbacks.

“He is. He is right now,” Simpson told Ryan Fowler on Thursday when asked if Simpson would be the starter if the season started Saturday. “We don’t really deal in absolutes until we have to, but I was trying to answer that as honestly as I could. I knew that people were looking for direction and, shoot, so are the guys in the room. Those were not surprising things. Those are things that we had already talked about with the guys. We had our post-spring evaluations done with the guys.

“Ty took care of the football better, he operated better. I thought he improved for an older quarterback – and I know young to playing or starting experience, but I thought for an older guy, especially towards the latter part of the spring, he really started to show more of those characteristics. But we’re still going to let them compete. We still are right now. We will again in fall camp.”

Simpson appeared in six games each of the last two years after playing in four games as a freshman in 2022, meaning he preserved a redshirt. During his time in Tuscaloosa, he has 381 passing yards while adding 130 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

As Grubb takes over as offensive coordinator, Ty Simpson is now looking to land the starting job at Alabama as DeBoer gets ready for his second season as head coach. He began his career for two years under Nick Saban, who praised the former five-star recruit’s development.

“Ty was an outstanding high school player, no doubt. He’s a fine young man,” Saban said last month at Nick’s Kids Golf Tournament. “I think his example is a true example of development. He matured for two years, and now he’s getting an opportunity, and his experiences will help him be successful.”