ATLANTA — Kalen DeBoer may not know who his starting quarterback will definitively be for Alabama football’s season opener against Florida State Aug. 30. But he knows one thing for certain: there were no better options than what he had in Ty Simpson, Austin Mack and Keelon Russell. “I just felt like anyone reaching out to us or that was there, you could really not make an argument that they were better than what we had,” DeBoer said at SEC media days.
“That’s just, hopefully, another level of confidence that we had some players in our program that we believe in: Ty, Austin and knowing Keelon was coming too. The skillsets are there. There’s inexperience, and that’s probably what you would be gaining if you brought someone in is experience. But there is also growth to our offense. There is also a level of understanding.”
No quarterback on Alabama’s roster has 200 snaps of in-game experience according to Pro Football Focus. Simpson, the presumed favorite heading into fall camp July 30, is heading into his fourth season with the Crimson Tide. Simpson, DeBoer said, is the best example of how he wants his quarterback room to be built: “Just stay the course, just keep plugging away.”
“It’s just honing in on the tools and the skillsets our guys have,” DeBoer said. “I still feel like we made the right choice, and I feel like it … adds to and sets the direction of what you want your culture to be. If I just continue to stay the course, if I continue to believe in the development I’m going to get from our coaching staff, that time will come.”
DeBoer was also complimentary of both Mack and Russell, saying he wants “all three of them to have success.” And that stems back to why DeBoer didn’t feel he needed the portal to decide who the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback would be.
“Just a lot of feelings that we had what we needed,” DeBoer said. “Probably the better way to put it is what we felt was out there really was not much better than what we had, if at all.” Alabama opens the 2025 season at Florida State Aug. 30.
