Alabama may have started the season with its lowest ranking in the AP Poll since 2008, Nick Saban’s second season at the helm, but there were still those predicting the Crimson Tide to win it all in 2025 because there’s still plenty of talent in Tuscaloosa. With 15 returning starters, Kalen DeBoer's Year 2 roster ranked No. 1 in 247Sports composite talent rankings.
The theory went, for that optimistic bunch, that with so much talent and experience on the roster, redshirt junior quarterback Ty Simpson would merely need to be a responsible chaperone for this team to be one of the best in the country. Saturday’s 31-17 loss to unranked Florida State in Tallahassee immediately dispelled any ideas that the program could return to the Greg McElroy, AJ McCarron, Jake Coker days.
DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb needed a quarterback who could carry their offense, and in his first career start, Simpson didn’t look the part.
For Simpson to be a game manager, which is a dreaded term but would have been a significant improvement on his outing against the Florida State defense, he needed to stay on schedule. However, he looked like a player making his first career start, no matter how long he’s been on campus since arriving as a 5-star recruit in the 2022 class.
Just 13 of Simpson’s 51 dropbacks ended in fewer than 2.5 seconds, which was the seventh lowest percentage among the 142 FBS quarterbacks with at least 10 dropbacks so far this season. On those attempts, six of which were screens, he completed 53.8 percent of his throws for 5.2 yards per attempt, and those numbers would have been significantly better if it weren’t for two drops.
The other 38 dropbacks are where Simpson got himself into trouble. He held onto the ball too long, inviting pressure, which was all too common considering how well Alabama’s offensive line was expected to play this season, and he didn’t have the composure, the athleticism, or the arm to navigate those situations. Composure can improve with reps, and Simpson can learn to trust his eyes more to get the ball out quickly in future starts, but his arm and athleticism aren’t going to change, and that puts a tremendous ceiling on the Crimson Tide offense.
Simpson can be an accurate thrower, and he didn’t put the ball in harm’s way in Week 1, but because of how pedestrian his physical traits are, he has to be good to great as a processor and throw with real anticipation. He didn’t do that on Saturday.
Processing and anticipation get better with game reps, but DeBoer may not have the luxury of allowing Simpson to work through his growing pains because the upside isn’t there. Everything went wrong for Alabama in Week 1.
Ryan Williams was dropping passes before he got hurt, the offensive line struggled in pass protection, and without Jam Miller in the backfield, the Tide could not run the ball. Those things aren’t Simpson’s fault, but he’s not the type of player who can paper over flaws on an offense. 5-star freshman Keelon Russell might be, and if DeBoer feels the pressure to save his job, he may pull the rip cord if Simpson isn’t drastically improved by the Week 5 meeting with Georgia.