Kalen DeBoer won’t be leading the Crimson Tide out onto the field in his black hoodie this weekend, so his sights are set on a Week 5 showdown with Georgia in Athens. DeBoer, with Jalen Milroe, took down Carson Beck and the Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa last season, but quite a bit has changed since that thriller, including both quarterbacks.
Ty Simpson has given Alabama plenty of reasons to believe that the season is going to turn around after his Week 1 struggles, but his counterpart, Gunner Stockton, has proven much more. Though it’s his first year as the starter, Stockton already has a College Football Playoff start under his belt, a loss to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals last season, and an SEC road win, beating Tennessee in overtime at Neyland Stadium in Week 3.
“He’s played in some big games in just a short amount of time,” DeBoer told reporters when asked about Stockton in his midweek SEC teleconference. “When you look at the end of last year, and this last week in particular, he’s done a nice job just managing the offense and then making plays when he needs to, throwing the ball down the field, finding his matchups, and then keeping plays alive with his feet. He really, I think, adds a dimension to their offense because of that.”
Alabama’s struggles against mobile QBs could continue
It’s not surprising that DeBoer honed in on Stockton’s ability to make plays on the ground, because mobile quarterbacks are the ones that have hurt his team and Kane Wommack’s defense across their brief tenure in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama was a step, or maybe even two, behind the option-based attack of Florida State and Thomas Castellanos in Week 1. Castellanos ran for 78 yards and a touchdown in 16 carries in the 31-17 Seminoles win, and that wasn’t the only instance.
In 2024, Alabama’s losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma were directly attributable to dual-threat quarterbacks. Diego Pavia carried the ball 20 times for the Commodores as his offense put up 40 points on the Tide, and Jackson Arnold, now the QB at Auburn, ran roughshod, racking up 131 yards on 25 carries.
Stockton isn’t quite an elite rusher, with just 124 yards and three touchdowns so far this season, but if Alabama hasn’t devised a better game plan for dealing with the quarterback run-game, then he’ll likely have his way in Week 5.
Former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has reemerged as a Heisman Trophy candidate with Miami, but he’s never been a runner, so Stockton may give Georgia a better chance than the rejuvenated version of Beck.