Ryan Grubb addresses how many quarterbacks Alabama hopes to have

Alabama has three quarterbacks on scholarship and in contention for next fall. That’s the right number this year to OC Ryan Grubb with him thinking four could be a possibility for them some years in Tuscaloosa.

Grubb addressed the quarterback depth chart for the Crimson Tide back coming out of the spring. He said three is the likelier number that they’ll hope for most seasons considering the difficulty of having four in the portal era but he did think there’d be teams where they could make it work with a fourth in the quarterback room.

“I think that’s probably fair,” said Grubb. “I would never say no, you know, like we’re never going to have a fourth scholarship quarterback. I think every year presents potentially differently as far as where you have guys staggered in their classes and things like that, you know, so you never want to say you can’t add a fourth guy, especially if it’s a unique situation.”

“But, for us, I think, you know, the, the timing of where those guys are at developmentally? You’re in a pretty good spot,” Grubb said.

The quarterbacks at Alabama currently consist of Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, Keelon Russell, and Cade Carruth. That’s after losing none of them, as well as any other players, to the transfer portal this spring while also not adding another during the cycle.

Simpson, a former five-star entering his redshirt junior season, is currently trending to be the starter coming out of spring practice, especially as the most experience of the three. Mack, a former four-star who’s entering his redshirt sophomore season and second in total with the program, also has some collegiate experience after transferring in from Washington. Russell is then an incoming, Five-Star+ freshman who just completed his first spring period and projects to one day be the QB1 for ‘Bama.

That’s already a trio of options at quarterback for this next season, with one already looking to be the leader as the starter, for Alabama. That’s enough for this year with Grubb still noting that three might not be in other ones.

Kalen DeBoer reveals what has separated Simpson in quarterback competition

At the end of Alabama‘s spring, OC Ryan Grubb revealed Ty Simpson as the frontrunner in the Crimson Tide’s quarterback battle. Whether he earns the starting job by the end of fall camp remains to be seen. However, Kalen DeBoer praised Simpson for the skills he has showcased throughout the spring.

“Ty continues to, I think, trend upward,” DeBoer said during the Tide’s post-spring press conference. “I think all of them have really added to their game. They’re all at different spots because Keelon’s learning the system. The other two know it better, for sure. And Ty has been around and just has done a nice job. I think the trending upward is a big piece of it. Ty is an accurate thrower…There’s always gonna be balls that every guy wants back. But I think the ability to learn from your mistakes, learn from other people’s mistakes, be able to comprehend, not be overwhelmed? I think that he’s just had more time. But they’re all doing a lot of really good things together as a group.”

“Now, I will say we’re not where we need to be at the quarterback position yet,” DeBoer continued. “And so I feel like that exists within our team, to have that level be accomplished, but this is part of the process. I shared with our team, we’re not where we need to be as a team. I hope we don’t ever think that…It’s never been that case everywhere I’ve been, any year I’ve been a part of to where you finish spring ball in April and you’re like, ‘OK, we’re good to go’. People ask, ‘Are you ready for the season?’. No, I’m not. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and August, and I think that’s the case, I think, with the quarterback position.”