Ryan Grubb’s description of Ty Simpson should have Alabama fans thinking national title

Alabama finally put the speculation and offseason hints behind it on Monday when Kalen DeBoer officially named Ty Simpson the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback for the 2025 season. The redshirt junior’s patience will finally pay off when he takes the field at Doak Campbell Stadium in Week 1 against Florida State. 

Simpson has attempted just 50 career passes across his three seasons in Tuscaloosa, so he’s undoubtedly the biggest question mark lingering over the No. 7-ranked team in the country. However, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s assessment of his play this offseason and in fall camp should have Alabama fans thinking that DeBoer can follow in Nick Saban’s footsteps by winning a national championship in his second season leading the Tide. 

Ty Simpson might be more than a game manager for Alabama

In some ways, it does feel like the early Saban years at Alabama again because the roster is so talented that the quarterback doesn’t necessarily have to carry the team to a title. The dreaded “game manager” label has been foisted upon Simpson this offseason, but with an elite offensive line and a group of pass catchers led by Ryan Williams, managing the game could be enough for the Tide to contend for the SEC crown. 

To win it all, though, Simpson will need to elevate his play and go blow-for-blow with Heisman candidates and NFL draft prospects like LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, and potentially, Texas’s Arch Manning. Well, his play-caller certainly seems to think he’ll be up to the challenge. 

“Ty did a really nice job of taking care of the football,” Grubb told the assembled media of his starting QB’s performance in fall camp. “I think Ty is an incredible playmaker on the move, and I think from there, guys like that you worry, are they going to be able to train themselves to be able to take care of the football.” 

That assessment of Simpson, from someone who has seen him play all offseason, is the complete inverse of the outside expectations of his game. While he’s a former five-star, he’s generally assumed to be a player with a high floor, but a relatively low ceiling as a playmaker, lacking the dynamic elements that made Jalen Milroe so tantalizing throughout his rollercoaster career. 

Grubb, on the other hand, views Simpson as a playmaker who naturally creates outside of the structure of the offense to hunt big plays with his arm, throwing on the move and off-platform, and he feels like he’s had to rein all that talent in. That’s what many would expect him to say about true freshman Keelon Russell, a 2025 five-star and the No. 2 overall player in the class, not Simpson, who has spent three years sitting on the bench and lost a QB battle to Milroe in 2023. 

“Ty didn’t throw any picks last week; he’s thrown one all camp,” Grubb continued, comparing his starter to Russell and Austin Mack, who both vied for the starting job this summer. “I think in general the guys understand the concepts and control the offense a lot better as a room, and Ty was the best at that. His ability to command and create out of the pocket, I thought, was the best.” 

If Simpson simply has command of Grubb’s playbook and is decisive from the pocket as a point-and-shoot passer, getting the ball out in rhythm, Alabama has the athletes around him to score a lot of points and win a lot of games. If he’s more than that, or much more as Grubb described, the Tide should be one of the favorites, if not the favorite, to win the national championship.