Nick Saban details where Ty Simpson must improve to lead Alabama to SEC Championship

Ty Simpson is set to lead No. 9 Alabama (10-2, 7-1 SEC) into Saturday’s SEC Championship Game inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium against No. 3 Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) in a rematch of the Crimson Tide’s biggest win of the regular season. It marks the Bulldogs’ fifth-consecutive appearance in the conference title game and eighth in the last nine years, while Alabama returns for the first time since 2023 for its 11th appearance in Atlanta since 2008.

But for Simpson, a redshirt junior, Saturday represents his first-ever appearance in the SEC Championship game, which that carries a lot of weight given its potential College Football Playoff implications for the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide. Following its Nov. 15 home loss to No. 8 Oklahoma, two-loss Alabama remains firmly on the Playoff bubble, albeit safer than No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 BYU and No. 12 Miami.

A win Saturday in Atlanta would obviously secure Alabama the SEC’s automatic Playoff bid as champion, but a loss could create some uncertainty leading into Selection Sunday, especially if chaos ensues in other Power Four conference title games. Given that potential, former Alabama coach Nick Saban took the opportunity Friday to dish out some coaching advice for Simpson ahead of his first-career SEC title start.

“Ty Simpson has done a great job all year long,” Saban said Friday during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “(But) one of the things that I think is important, Ty has been leaving the home position to change plays – the platform. And the other team is changing the defense (before the snap).”

Nick Saban on Ty Simpson’s pre-snap changes: ‘Hopefully he’ll do a better job of that this week’

Saban is pointing to Simpson’s propensity for making pre-snap shifts and checks at the line depending on how the opposition is lined up defensively. Only, opposing defenses have caught onto that tendency, as was the case against Auburn, which took advantage in last Saturday’s Iron Bowl, a 27-20 Alabama win.

“So that doesn’t create any advantage for you checking a play on offense,” Saban added. “So hopefully he’ll do a little better job of that this week and that won’t be a problem for Alabama’s offense.”

ESPN analyst Jordan Rodgers elaborated on how Auburn baited Simpson into shifting protections pre-snap during Friday morning’s Get Up, which the former Vanderbilt QB suggested provides Georgia a defensive blueprint ahead of Saturday’s SEC Championship Game.

“Auburn had 14 pressures, six of those in less than 2.5 seconds, and they actually put out a roadmap on how to attack Ty Simpson,” Rodgers said Friday. “Because (Simpson) is so good pre-snap, he’s always going to protect himself, he’s always going to slide the protection to a look that maybe looks overloaded like a blitz to one side. Which means Auburn baited him, they overloaded a side, caused him to slide the protection, and then they attacked the running back in the protection over and over again. If Georgia does some of that, Alabama’s going to have a long day trying to protect Ty Simpson.”