Kalen DeBoer doesn't have an easy choice to make this fall as he decides between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell to take the reins at quarterback for Alabama.
Mack has a significant edge in experience, heading into his fourth season in DeBoer's offensive system. Russell is entering year two, but he's an unbelievable talent. That was on full display during garbage time last year, and again during the A-Day scrimmage in the spring.
There is confidence among the players and coaching staff that whoever wins the job will be able to provide high-level play at the position. Marshall Pritchett probably put it best at fan and media day on Saturday.
While he had praise for both quarterbacks, it was his comments on Russell that make it hard to envision the star sophomore not being the starter.
On Mack, Pritchett said, via AL.com's Nick Kelly:
"Austin's an incredibly knowledgeable quarterback ... He's a true prototype NFL quarterback. He’s a huge kid. ... He's very straightforward. You get the call, you line up, and Austin is going to deliver. He is a very smart quarterback. Very dependable."
On Russell, Pritchett called him "dynamite in a bottle" (also via Nick Kelly):
"The guy's an incredible athlete. Incredible football thrower. It's so hard to explain his game if you haven’t kind of seen it fully in person every day like we do. He just makes throws, and it's like, you rewind the film, you're like, there's no way he just did that. How did he just do that? That’s the only way to explain Keelon. The guy’s dynamite."
Alabama needs Keelon Russell's upside to reach its ceiling in 2026
Mack is a good player. Alabama can win games with Mack this season. But Russell is a special talent. There may be some growing pains with him, but for an Alabama offense that has some legitimate question marks, the upside that comes with the former 5-star recruit might be difficult for DeBoer to ignore.
The best version of Alabama in 2026 is with Russell at QB. He's the dynamic, ceiling-raiser quarterback who can put the Crimson Tide's offense on his back and make it a truly elite unit.
It's impossible to ignore the statements Pritchett made. He described it as "hard to explain," and called him "dynamite in a bottle."
Another recent comment from Ryan Grubb stood out. When asked what the quarterbacks had improved upon most since the spring, Grubb said the following about Russell:
"The summer, I'd say Keelon did a better job taking care of the football in the summer than he did the spring."
That's the biggest question mark with a young quarterback. Can he avoid the back-breaking plays? We know that Russell will make plenty of eye-popping plays, the ones like Pritchett described. But what isn't known about Russell is how he'll respond when he makes a bad play. How does he respond when he gets hit? Those are all questions that aren't answerable until he's been exposed to them in a real game setting.
But it's a worthwhile gamble. Alabama may have a higher floor with Mack, but there's little question that the ceiling is higher with Russell leading the way. He's a dynamic dual-threat QB who could be the cure to the Tide's biggest offensive ailment from a season ago: the inability to run the football.
DeBoer and Grubb aren't in a particular hurry to name a starter. They'd like to do it before the first game. Alabama has scrimmages on the 13th and 20th this month that will go a long way in determining the outcome of the competition.
But the closer we get to the season and the more intel that gets released, the more difficult it is to ignore the significant upside that Russell would bring to the Tide's offense.
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