The Alabama Crimson Tide will start redshirt junior Ty Simpson at quarterback to open the 2025 college football season, head coach Kalen DeBoer announced on Monday (August 11) via ESPN's Chris Low.
Simpson, 22, has served as the Tide's backup behind Jalen Milroe -- who was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2025 NFL Draft -- during the past two seasons and has been enrolled at the University of Alabama since 2022, having rated as a five-star prospect and ranked as the No. 4 quarterback, No. 2 player from the state of Tennessee and the No. 29 overall prospect for the 2022 national recruiting cycle. The redshirt junior beat out redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell for the starting gig and all three were informed of DeBoer's decision during a meeting on Monday.
"They went through the X's and O's of why I would be the starter and said they were really proud of the QB room for how tight-knit we were," Simpson said via ESPN.
DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb had previously said that Simpson would've been the starter multiple times during summer training camp if the Tide had to start right then.
"That's what's great and why I love rooting for Ty is just the journey he's been on and the way he's been loyal to Alabama, loyal to his teammates," DeBoer said via ESPN. "He continued to stay and keep fighting and do it in a way where he never lowered his level of character and always kept being a great teammate, first and foremost. So it makes it really easy, from a teammate standpoint, to root for him."