Alabama's turnaround from the depths of despair following a Week 1 loss to one of the teams on the shortlist of National Championship contenders is nothing short of remarkable. Ty Simpson has delivered on a postgame promise from Tallahassee, and he's led the Crimson Tide to six straight wins. His stellar play has him at the top of the Heisman Trophy leaderboard and in legitimate conversations for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Simpson's on-field play has been outstanding. But what makes him special are his intangibles. It's not his arm strength and accuracy; it's how he commands the huddle, what he can do at the line of scrimmage, and how he leads the locker room.
He's got the mentality of a winner. He continues to strive for greatness, and as all great players do, he has elevated the play of everyone around him.
Simpson had a viral quote this week that speaks to his preparation and what he's doing when no one is watching.
"We say in the quarterback room, 'prepare like you've never won, perform like you've never lost,'" Simpson said.
Ty Simpson is living the QB room idealogy for Alabama
Simpson has refused to let success breed complacency so far. That'll be perhaps the biggest challenge the team faces this week against South Carolina. After defeating four consecutive ranked SEC opponents in Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Tennessee, this week on the road would be a natural place for Alabama to relax and take a deep breath.
South Carolina is just 3-4, and the Crimson Tide has a bye week following that the whole team is no doubt looking forward to.
Complacency played a role last season in losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. The Vanderbilt loss came directly after beating Georgia and jumping up to No. 1 in the AP Poll. The Oklahoma loss was right after a dominant performance in a win over LSU in Baton Rouge, where everyone was willing to forgive the two previous slip-ups and anoint the Crimson Tide as contenders once again.
We'd all like to believe that this team has the emotional maturity to avoid a trap game in Columbia this weekend. It's been Kalen DeBoer's krytonite in Tuscaloosa.
While we'll have to see it to believe it, there's a lot more confidence that the team can avoid it than ever before. That's thanks to Simpson, whose leadership has been an invaluable commodity for the Alabama locker room.
Not only is he playing as well as anyone in the country at the QB position, but he's leading as well as anyone, too.