Quick ‒ what do these former Alabama football quarterbacks have in common? Steadman Shealy, Danny Woodson, John David Phillips, Blake Sims, Jake Coker, Mac Jones.
It's quite the mixed bag, but one factor puts them all in there together: They all had to wait to take over as the Crimson Tide's starter. The results varied wildly; senior swansongs ranging from national championship glory to struggles and benchings.
And now, Ty Simpson joins them.
SCHEDULE DETAILS: Your complete Alabama football 2025 schedule, dates, times, TV channels
GOODBREAD: Why Alabama football looked good where it mattered most in scrimmage
Intrepid Tuscaloosa News sportswriters Colin Gay and Emilee Smarr broke the news Monday that Simpson has been tapped as the Crimson Tide's starter for the season opener at Florida State on Aug. 30. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer will state the obvious publicly in his own time, as UA still has its final fall scrimmage upcoming Saturday.
But Simpson has been the clear, sensible choice for some time. He emerged from spring practice No. 1 on the depth chart, and nothing in fall camp changed that. We know at least this much about Simpson's camp performance: He's taken good care of the ball from a turnover standpoint, a factor that surely stacked higher than any other for DeBoer. After turnovers played such a large role in a 9-4 disappointment of a season in 2024, Jalen Milroe's successor must do more than score points; he can't afford to give them away, either.
If the UA offense is just functional even if not dynamic ‒ in other words, if it doesn't shoot itself in the foot ‒ the defense should be good enough for the team to be a consistent winner.
Given that Simpson has never started a game, it's premature to assume he'll zip through Saturday after Saturday turnover-free. Indeed, the only real fire-test he's ever had was in a close game at South Florida in 2023, when he came off the bench to help a sputtering offense sputter a little less. But between Simpson, redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell, DeBoer has no significant game experience to turn to at all, so practice performance made for the full body of work at the position.
This wasn't the Tua Tagovailoa-Jalen Hurts battle by a longshot.
Mack, now in year three of his college career, has made the transition from project to protege. Russell, himself a five-star recruit, is a wildly promising talent. If there's any battle left in the quarterback competition, it's whether Mack or Russell will be the No. 2 as Simpson's primary backup. And that could change over time, but what won't change is that Simpson is clearly Alabama's best option for the FSU game.
Scrimmage observers were impressed with Simpson's play on Saturday, and the rep distribution did nothing to suggest he'd be anything but the starter. Indeed, even offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb confirmed last week that of the three quarterbacks, Simpson is the only one not taking practice snaps with the third team.
This decision is a no-brainer, at least to begin the season.
Simpson's challenge is to combine what he's learned from four offensive coordinators, three years of practice, plus two years of mop-up duty, and translate it into success against the likes of Georgia, Tennessee and LSU. That's not easy for anyone, but as a few Alabama quarterbacks mentioned atop this column proved, it's not impossible. Simpson will now take a crack at it himself. The former five-star recruit from Martin, Tennessee, has endured a lengthy wait for the opportunity of a lifetime.
He's far from the first. But he's most definitely the next.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Alabama football's Ty Simpson is the only choice as starting QB
