Kalen DeBoer doesn’t tip his hand at all with Alabama QB battle comments

For the second straight year, Alabama has an offseason quarterback battle to decide. However, unlike last year when Ty Simpson was the overwhelming favorite to win the job from spring ball on, it looks to be a dead heat between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell. 

With his third year of spring ball in Tuscaloosa underway, Kalen DeBoer spoke to the media on Tuesday about his two quarterbacks and refused to tip his hand or tip the scales in any particular direction between Mack and Russell. 

“They’ve had a number of reps from last year under their belt,” DeBoer told the assembled reports following Alabama’s practice. “Playing with confidence, calling the play in the huddle with confidence, both of them lightyears ahead of where they were a year ago, obviously, and they should be,” DeBoer remarked. 

Alabama’s third-year head coach went on to detail the aspects of both players’ games that have impressed him, including mobility, but did not single out either player. 

Kalen DeBoer impressed with Austin Mack and Keelon Russell as QB battle is underway

Though Russell arrived in Tuscaloosa as a highly-touted five-star, Mack was QB2 in 2025 and replaced Ty Simpson when he suffered an injury that knocked him out of the Tide’s Rose Bowl loss to Indiana. Mack followed DeBoer from Washington, and as a redshirt junior, presumably has the edge over Russell in terms of his familiarity with the offense. 

However, just because Mack was ahead of Russell on the depth chart last year doesn’t mean he’ll hold onto that lead throughout the offseason. From all of DeBoer’s indications and the preseason Heisman Trophy odds, it’s a clean slate, and either player can win the starting job. If that wasn’t the case, it was unlikely that Alabama could have kept both players, especially with Mack running out of eligibility. 

DeBoer highlighting mobility in his assessment of both players would seem to point more towards Russell, who was a true dual-threat coming out of high school as the No. 2 QB in the 2025 class, behind Michigan’s Bryce Underwood. Russell also added significant muscle for his redshirt freshman season, finally getting up to 200 pounds, which should help him to withstand the beating of an SEC season if he does win the job. 

Mack is a mobile player in his own right and has better size at 6-foot-6, 232 pounds. Mack’s size and Russell’s movement will be vital because QB isn’t the only position room in flux. After last season’s struggles along the offensive line, DeBoer and general manager Courtney Morgan brought in six offensive linemen from the Transfer Portal and returned just one starter from last year’s group, right tackle Michael Carroll.