'Stick-to-itiveness' is a word. The Alabama Crimson Tide should benefit from it in the 2025 season. Merriam-Webster defines the noun as "dogged perseverance", with "tenacity" as the primary synonym.
In the current football world, 'sticking' to a team has lost nearly all of its former shine. The word 'bolt' might better describe the accelerating pattern of players chasing opportunities with multiple teams in their college careers.
Recently, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik praised what he called top quarterbacks for "staying loyal ... Guys like Arch [Manning], Garrett Nussmeier, Drew Allar and Ty Simpson. Those are the guys that come to mind. The guys that believe in the program and believe in the culture that they’re at. Just chase to get better every single year. There’s a reason that those are four of the best quarterbacks in college football right now. Guys that have stayed loyal, that have put their noses to the dirt and just went to work, and those are the guys that I respect so much."
Any widespread acclaim for Ty Simpson becoming a 'top' QB will have to be earned on the field. That does make Klubnik any less right. The good news for the Alabama Crimson Tide is that on the Alabama roster, Simpson is not alone. Along with Simpson, four other Alabama players will be in their fourth college season this Fall; all in Tuscaloosa. They are Tim Keenan III, Jaeden Roberts, Jam Miller, and Danny Lewis Jr. Deontae Law will be playing his fifth season for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Linebacker Jah-Marien Latham will be playing in a sixth Alabama season.
Ty Simpson has been asked why he chose to stay at Alabama, and he answered that he felt it was part of God's plan for him. He added, "I couldn’t leave my friends, my teammates. Some of my best friends who are going to be in my wedding one day are my teammates at the University of Alabama. Seeing them on a different sideline, it just didn’t fit right to me. So with coach Saban’s guidance and the guys that are on the team ... there was nowhere else I’d rather be."
Alabama Crimson Tide and Returning Production
Returning starters have long been a benchmark for predicting future success. It remains important, though with annual roster rebuilds as the new norm, returning starters have become more of an added value.
Calculating returning production for the 2025 season, CBS Sports counts Alabama Football as No. 5 among Power Four teams. Alabama returns 14 starters. Among SEC teams, only Texas A&M returns more at 15. Georgia and LSU return only seven each.
Kalen DeBoer and his staff continue to labor in a shroud of skepticism. Not to be ignored is the large number of Alabama players who bought into 'sticking'. That kind of glue is hard to measure, but it is a championship-making ingredient.