Before Alabama football's A-Day practice , Austin Mack was loose, working on 25-yard passes from the end zone. As he waited for the throws back, the redshirt sophomore was dancing to the music playing in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
After working next to Simpson and Russell on go-route drills to a slew of wide receivers, and an 11-on-11 period that started the practice, Mack took hold of the second-team offense where he found Jalen Hale on a deep crosser. Hale had to wait for the throw to get to him instead of being anticipatory.
Mack was inconsistent on many of his one-on-one reps, matching overthrows that sailed into the sideline with underthrows.
When it was Mack's turn with the first-team offense, he first underthrew wide receiver Germie Bernard before throwing an interception to cornerback Zabien Brown .
As practice continued, Mack seemingly got stronger, connecting with Derek Meadows on a back-shoulder touchdown pass during the 7-on-7 portion. But inconsistencies continued after missing a receiver on a slate the very next play and quickly threw another interception to freshman linebacker Abduall Sanders Jr.
In his final set of throws, Mack primarily handed the ball off, but had a miscommunication with Hale that led to a significant overthrow.
Mack has one thing no other quarterback in Alabama 's room has: a collegiate touchdown pass after he connected with Rico Scott on a 31-yard score in the Crimson Tide 's Nov. 16 win against Mercer.
But Mack has only five total snaps to his name with the Crimson Tide after following Kalen DeBoer to Tuscaloosa after reclassifying and playing through a redshirt season at Washington, learning from Michael Penix Jr. In those five snaps, Mack had two completions on three pass attempts for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Mack was the No. 16 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class per 247Sports' composite rankings out of Folsom, California.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Austin Mack A-Day performance: How Alabama football QB did
