Still not much separation between Keelon Russell and Austin Mack at Alabama camp

The Alabama Crimson Tide are just a few weeks away from their first game of the season.

They'll kick things off against East Carolina on Sept. 5, and by then, you can bet that head coach Kalen DeBoer will have a starting quarterback leading the way.

For now, though, things are still too close to call between Keelon Russell and Austin Mack, the two quarterbacks locked in a fierce camp battle as Alabama looks to replace Ty Simpson.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, DeBoer made it clear that Alabama's staff is still evaluating which quarterback will lead them in Week 1.

The competition will continue into this weekend.

“We’ll work through it here this weekend,” DeBoer said, according to Matt Stahl of AL.com. “See where we’re at, and just continue to discuss it as a coaching staff.”

There's an old saying in football that suggests if you've got two quarterbacks, you've really got no quarterbacks. What that means is that if you don't have one quarterback who can clearly take the reins and win a competition to become QB1, you've really got two QB2s.

DeBoer doesn't see it that way, though. He's confident in either Mack or Russell.

Kalen DeBoer confident in both Keelon Russell and Austin Mack

"We can go in [a game] with either one of them," DeBoer said. "I feel very comfortable with that. Obviously we got to pick one and we will. We will. We will pick one and we’ll continue to work through that here in the days ahead.”

One would assume that Mack knows the system a bit better than Russell. He had committed to DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb at Washington and then followed them to Tuscaloosa.

Russell is a former 5-star recruit, though, and he had the talent to compete alongside Mack and Simpson last season as a true freshman. That was a battle that Simpson ultimately ended up winning, but Russell held his own just months out of high school, which says something.

DeBoer could also choose to use the first game to play both players, but if Alabama wants to be a true College Football Playoff contender this season, having a true QB1 who can separate from Week 1 is going to be important.