There may not be a position battle across college football this fall that is under the microscope more than the Alabama QB competition.
Redshirt junior Austin Mack and redshirt freshman Keelon Russell will battle it out in the fall in continuation of the competition that started in the spring. Mack came into the spring as the favorite due to his experience, but Russell's shining performance during the A-Day scrimmage put him ahead in the race, at least to the fans and media. If the coaching staff believes one QB is in front of the other, they've done a much better job of hiding that this year than Ryan Grubb did a year ago.
But the popular consensus in the media - and among Alabama fans - is that it's Russell's job to lose coming into fall camp.
College football analyst Josh Pate agrees with that. In an appearance on the Crain & Cone show for their Alabama Football 2026 preview, Pate gave his thoughts on the QB battle and why Russell could win the job and one reason he might not.
Keelon Russell still has to 'take the job' for Alabama at QB, according to Josh Pate
“My feel is that Keelon Russell is gonna end up winning the job. That’s certainly not anything I’ve heard. I don’t think that’s knowable right now," Pate said on Crain and Cone ... "Eventually the guy’s gotta take the job. I don’t know that Keelon Russell has taken the job yet. In fact, I know that he hasn’t taken the job yet. This is not one of those cosmetic quarterback battles. This is a legitimate QB1, high-level competition going into fall camp. My feel is that at his highest level, Keelon Russell does stuff that - forget about Austin Mack - few other guys in the country can do."
The consensus seems to be that Russell can give Alabama its highest ceiling on offense. That's not just because of his preternatural ability to throw the football, but also because of what Russell can bring with his legs. The RPO game was not a big part of the equation for the Crimson Tide last season with Ty Simpson at QB, but it's something that Russell specializes in. That could be a dynamic to the Alabama offense that was sorely missing a season ago.
The question for Russell, as is the case for any young quarterback, is consistency. Yes, he almost certainly raises the ceiling for Alabama offensively. He probably also lowers the floor because he has two fewer years of experience in this system than Mack does.
Kalen DeBoer and the coaching staff need to see the light click for Russell in the fall. They need to trust that they can hand him the keys and he's not going to drive the car into the ditch.
"It’s the consistency piece," Pate said. "If you are able to get that from him…it’s the kind of environment where you’re watching him in September, and you can tell they have the ingredients, and then you come back in November, and you’re like ‘whoa,’ they put it in the pot with the lid on it and it feels like it’s starting to cook a little bit.”
The good news for Russell - or for Mack - is that the schedule starts out lighter and gets tougher. It's a schedule that is conducive to the Crimson Tide working out some early kinks while still winning games. They can lean on what should be one of the nation's top defenses early, and then, as Pate notes, when November rolls around, this team might be close to reaching its final form thanks to the growth offensively.
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