Alabama Football: Is Austin Mack the Starter post Jalen Milroe?

While the Alabama Football team heads into the 2024 season with a starting quarterback in Jalen Milroe the picture hasn't been clear post Milroe. Things became more interesting when Kalen DeBoer was named the head coach and brought in Austin Mack a quarterback from Washington. Mack's arrival was followed by the news that Julian Sayin entered the transfer portal raising questions of whether Austin Mack was the next in line for the Quarterback job.

Ryan Williams' Wide Receiver coach seemingly told 24/7 Sports that Austin Mack was next in line when telling the outlet about Williams' recruiting visit:

"They sat down with Austin Mack and Ryan together. They kind of told them, once Jalen graduates, that they would be the faces of the program. He told them that they could throw for a bunch of yards and both of them decided to come there."

- Daniel Taylor

Austin Mack is a relative unknown for most Alabama Football fans especially, with the quarterback re-shirting last season for the Washington Huskies. Mack was one of the highest-regarded quarterbacks in the 2024 recruiting class before he re-classified to the 2023 recruiting class. Listed at 6-6, 226 pounds, Mack is a physical specimen and will have four years of eligibility at Alabama.

If Mack is next in line for the Alabama Football team he will have great learning experiences when his time comes. Mack will have sat behind Heisman finalist Michael Penix and potential Heisman candidate Jalen Milroe. Mack was heavily recruited by Ryan Grubb coming out of high school and may be the best fit of the group to play quarterback going forward.

The potential move to make Mack the next quarterback in line would bring the futures of Ty Simpson and Dylan Lonergan into question. While Austin Mack may be next in line to start after Milroe, Simpson still will most likely back up Milroe in 2024 with game experience under his belt. Dylan Lonergan's future is the one with more question marks as he decided not to play baseball for coach Rob Vaughn. Lonergan focusing solely on football means that he may be a candidate to hit the transfer portal in the spring.

The 2025 season is so far away at this point that while Mack is an interesting topic we ultimately won't know who the future starter is for quite some time. However, this provides for an interesting storyline to follow through off-season camp and in mop-up duty of games in 2024.

Alabama Football: Offense will be exciting regardless

Regardless of who's at quarterback the Alabama Football team will have one of the most exciting offenses in the country. The Washington Huskies passed for 5,000 yards in 2023 becoming one of the nation's most explosive offenses. The same will be expected of the Alabama Football team with the return of Jalen Milroe and explosive receivers in Kendrick Law, Germie Bernard, Ryan Williams, and Kobe Prentice. The Huskies also had a multi-faceted offense with an explosive rushing attack running for 1,776 yards. The Washington Huskies outgained the Alabama Football team in 2023 by 1,428 yards showing how this offense could take a massive jump in 2024. With Ryan Grubb at the helm be prepared as this offense will return to the explosive form we saw with Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian calling the plays.

Note: Stats via ESPN