Coming into spring practice, the consensus on Alabama's QB competition was that rising fourth-year signal-caller Austin Mack would have the slight edge over redshirt freshman Keelon Russell due to his experience in the program.
Mack is entering his fourth season in Kalen DeBoer's offensive system, spending his redshirt season at Washington before the last two in Tuscaloosa.
Coming out of spring practice, however, the Russell hype train hasn't slowed down since his impressive performance in the A-Day scrimmage. That performance thrust him into the driver's seat of the competition, at least in terms of popular perception.
With fall camp getting started in less than a month, the belief among most pundits and fans is that Russell will ultimately come out on top and win the starting job.
That is perhaps a bit premature.
Alabama insider Charlie Potter joined WJOX this week to discuss the QB battle and provided his reasoning for why Mack still might have the edge.
"I'd still give the slight edge to Mack because he's been in the program, the offensive system, at least, for four years," Potter said.
Austin Mack's experience could still give him the edge over Keelon Russell in Alabama's QB battle
Potter admits that Russell is very much alive in the battle, however, and credits the former 5-star recruit for taking advantage of the opportunity that presented itself in the A-Day scrimmage.
"I think Keelon Russell really took advantage of those opportunities," Potter said. "He's supremely talented. I think he's eventually going to get on the field, but it wouldn't shock me to see game one, the older guy gets the start."
DeBoer has yet to have a QB battle extend into the season at Alabama. He's also been reluctant to make a change at QB in his two seasons with the Crimson Tide. He's ridden wire-to-wire, for better and worse, with his preseason pick to run the offense. The only exception was in the Rose Bowl, but Mack's insertion into that game had everything to do with Simpson's injury and was not performance-related.
In year one, Jalen Milroe had some games that were bad enough to be benched, particularly in road losses in Knoxville and Norman.
A lot of Alabama fans were ready to move on from Ty Simpson after the season-opening loss to Florida State last season. He looked timid and indecisive in Week 1 before morphing into one of the best quarterbacks in the country from there.
It'll be interesting to see if DeBoer is willing to let the competition play out into the season. Alabama has a buy game to open against East Carolina before going on the road to face Kentucky to open SEC play in Week 2. Ideally, you'd want your QB situation settled heading into the SEC opener.
Mack's experience edge is real. There's no substitute for that. Because of it, he'll probably start fall camp as the first QB up in drills.
But Russell's talent is undeniable. It's hard to argue against Alabama's offensive ceiling being greater with Russell running the show. His dynamic running ability adds an interesting - and perhaps necessary - wrinkle to the offense, too.
The battle is far from decided, though so many fans have already anointed Russell as Simpson's successor. That might be premature, and Mack is certainly not going to go down without a fight this fall.
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