Going into the Alabama off-season, the biggest battle between Ty Simpson‘s loyalty and Austin Mack‘s beast aura seems to brew up. After Jalen Milroe left the throne, the three-way battle took up the lore, and sophomore Austin Mack seems to push harder to be the answer. And the way Mack is showing signs of a future breakout star during the early Spring practice, it’s getting hard to ignore him. But you have to consider the gifts the other two guys (Ty Simpson and Keelon Russell) are bringing to the table. Bama HC Kalen DeBoer offered praise to each of them. He had especially marked Mack’s inbuilt two-year timeline after he followed DeBoer from Washington. But come on, the QB1 job has not been handed yet. Mack is not the leader of the clubhouse, and there’s some road to go.

Now, the question it begs: Who would be Alabama’s starting quarterback? Well, a strategic and diplomatic answer would be none. But if you study the media reports, Mack gets the highest hype. There have been reasons, of course. The sophomore QB, who is very familiar with Kalen DeBoer, Nick Sheridan, and Ryan Grubb‘s language since their tenure in Washington for the Huskies’ 2023 national championship appearance. He also has a thorough knowledge of DeBoer’s offensive system. Secondly, he delivered his best practice during the Tide’s fourth spring practice this Saturday. But again, as DeBoer said, they are not even halfway to making up their mind on the quarterback battle.

But Justin Riley of the Bama Standard Network kept Ty Simpson, Keelon Russel, and Austin Mack in descending order. “Ty Simpson is the guy… I’ve been told he is taking command; his passes are there. He’s going through the entire route, the entire route tree. He’s commanded respect of all his teammates. He’s putting the ball in places that we didn’t see last year. But Kalen DeBoer has the right guy. And I don’t want to say like it’s a no, it’s foolproof to mess up. But anything’s possible,” said Riley.

Simpson, as a backup in each of the last three seasons, turned heads as a former five-star prospect who didn’t land a touchdown over his 50 career pass attempts. He has the tremendous ability to run the balls, but in limited scopes. No matter how aggressively Mack tries to change the script. Simpson is a formidable QB 1 in Riley’s judgment. He rather had some doubt over the backup position. But again, he put Russell over Mack. ”I think that Keelon has the edge; he just doesn’t have the experience or the maturity just yet,” Riley stuck to his QB 1 verdict, nevertheless. “Ty is the guy unless something crazy happened, God forbid, he an injury or he just has a breakdown – which I don’t see. [He has] got an incredible football IQ. He’s not going to put Alabama in a bad spot. This is his time,” he added.

But, the grass is greener for Mack in another expert vision.

Austin Mack takes the coaches to the storm by early spring brilliance

Jalen Milroe had suited up for four seasons with the Crimson Tide. He amassed a total of 6,016 passing yards, 45 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions. He also ran for 1,577 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns during that time. Not only are his numbers great, but his intangibles are greater.

The program is already stepping into its Spring game and making an impact. Alabama won’t hold their scheduled quarterback faceoff until August. So, there is a lot of time, and things can turn people upside down at any moment. But from this far, we can say Mack looks the most competitive of them all. On3 tweeted on Wednesday, “Alabama QB Austin Mack has been turning heads in spring practice and is a serious contender for the starting job, sources tell @PeteNakos_👀”

After Tuesday’s Spring practice, where Mack stunned the Bama coaching line and the fanbase with some top tier throws, his former Huskies OC and current Bama OC Grubb said, “He’s got a big upside, obviously. I thought he really had done a great job working on his technique, throwing motion, things like that. I can tell he been working hard over the last year. But he’s a very bright kid.” Now, it’d be interesting to see how his fate pans out going forward from here.