As the week progressed, it looked more and more likely that Austin Mack would earn his first career start at quarterback for Alabama at Vanderbilt. With Keelon Russell ailing from last week's ankle injury in the win over LSU, Mack saw a lot of first-team reps in practice and was prepared to play in Nashville.
On Friday, On3's Pete Nakos and Chris Low, along with ESPN's Pete Thamel, reported that Mack was likely going to start while Russell would be available in case of emergency.
Nothing changed on Saturday morning with that reporting. But then warm-ups started, and Russell was taking the first-team reps. Then Russell started the game and played the whole way until the final possession, when Mack came in to kneel on the ball three times to preserve Alabama's 21-6 win.
Mack was visibly disappointed. He shook his head several times after a conversation with a referee, who came over to - likely - offer him some encouragement. Kalen DeBoer called it a difficult situation for Mack after the game.
"That’s a hard spot for him to be in, and just, I can’t give him enough credit," DeBoer said. "It’s a tough situation always for him, but especially tough because I know he was working extremely hard to get out there and help our team win, and he was prepared to do that. I think our guys saw that, and that’s what you appreciate so much about him.”
But it didn't have to be. Alabama set Mack up for failure with how they handled the situation. To be clear: Russell was clearly healthy enough to play in this game, and that was ultimately the right decision.
But how Alabama handled it in the lead-up, particularly the disconnect between the coaching staff and the media team, should never have happened.
Alabama did Austin Mack dirty with how they handled the QB situation at Vanderbilt
The problem isn't that Russell started. It's that the Alabama media team built the lead-up to this game around Mack. Look at this:
🔴⚪️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/So24quHdgl
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) November 14, 2026
This was posed nearly three hours before kickoff. That's Mack's helmet and hoodie front and center.
15 minutes later, they posted this:
ORIGINS
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) November 14, 2026
Austin Mack reflects on the journey, the people and the moments that shaped his path to Alabama. @AustinMack2024 pic.twitter.com/IMi5FzBp9g
They built the whole media strategy in the pregame around this being Mack's game, just for him not to see any snaps until he took a few knees at the end of the game.
Mack has every right to be disappointed. He has every right to feel disrespected, too.
DeBoer isn't running a charitable organization. His job as the football coach is to play the players who put his team in the best position to win games. Russell obviously does that. It's why he won the job to begin with.
But this whole situation could have been handled better. If Russell was always truly a game-time decision, then it was a foolish decision by the media team to promote Mack the way they did. Or they got incorrect information from the coaches about what this game was going to be.
For Mack, the day started with such promise. This was going to be his moment. His chance to finally lead a team as the starting QB.
It ended with frustration because he was set up for disappointment from the jump. And that sucks for a player who has sacrificed so much and stayed when most in his position would have transferred already.
It didn't have to be this way.
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