How Alabama's Quarterbacks Performed in First Fall Scrimmage

Alabama football is just three weeks away from facing Florida State on the road, but the Crimson Tide is yet to officially name the starting quarterback for the 2025 season opener.

Alabama's quarterback trio of redshirt junior Ty Simpson, redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell have each battled throughout the spring and summer, and the Tide wrapped up their second week of fall camp with a scrimmage inside Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.

All three quarterbacks got to make their case to be the starter as they went head-to-head with Alabama's defense in full pads. Head coach Kalen DeBoer spoke after the scrimmage about each quarterback's performance.

"The biggest thing with those guys, the quarterbacks, is they've done a great job, first of all, of taking care of the football," DeBoer said. "No picks today, and a few touchdown passes between all three of them. The completion percentage over the course of camp for all three has been in that range that we want, we'd like to have a minimum of 65% and they just did a good job of being consistent.

"But they take care of the football. I think there's maybe three picks all camp, talking about 7-on-7 or team drills. They've done a good job of taking care of the football."

DeBoer has previously discussed the trio's improvement following the first week of fall camp, and he went a bit further into it after Saturday's scrimmage.

"I think the first week, just missed a few plays, the last practices they're finding ways to get explosive," DeBoer said. "I think the command in the huddle—your two guys that have been around the offense the longest, Ty and Austin, when they get in the huddle and they've got to rattle off the play, they're sharp and confident with it.

"Keelon is still learning those things but he's doing a great job with the progress, which is something that you hope for. He's right there." Explosive opportunities, they got the ball there. They delivered the ball. Timing, there are very few times that we're not throwing on time and not confident with where we should deliver the ball."

Simpson has been considered the top candidate to be the QB1 practically since the final whistle of last season, as starter Jalen Milroe went to the NFL Draft. Simpson sat behind Milroe for the last two years and was a freshman during Bryce Young's final season.

Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has said multiple times this offseason that Simpson would be the Week 1 starter if the season started the day of his quotes, but he also mentioned on July 31 that he wanted the battle to end "yesterday," and that Mack and Russell are not out of the race just yet.