TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Now and then Kalen DeBoer will hear some unexpected noises coming from within Alabama’s facility in the early hours of the morning. More often than not, it’s the sound of backup quarterback Austin Mack getting a few extra reps in before practice.

“He’s one of the hardest workers on the team,” DeBoer said when asked about Mack following Wednesday’s practice. “There’s a lot of guys that pour a lot into it. He’s doing stuff on his own, pretty much every day. You pick an early-morning time when we don’t have a practice, he’s doing something in some facility in here. You bounce around and all of a sudden you hear a ball being thrown or something moving — he’s one of those guys.

“He’s a gym rat and he’s really — reps, I’ve said it kind of a lot of different times in a lot of different ways whether its staff and our reps or players’ reps – really help you gain confidence because the preparation leads to that.”

Mack played in just one game this season after following DeBoer over from Washington. He made the most of that appearance, completing 2 of 3 passes against Mercer, including a 31-yard touchdown pass to Rico Scott.

With two-year starter Jalen Milroe likely to leave for the NFL this offseason, Mack might be in a position to earn more playing time next fall.

The rising redshirt sophomore is expected to compete with rising redshirt junior Ty Simpson and incoming freshman Keelon Russell for the starting job behind center this spring. Simpson, who served as the Tide’s No. 2 quarterback this season, is the favorite to step into the opening. However, Mack shouldn’t be counted out just yet.

The 18-year-old now has two full seasons in DeBoer’s system and impressed several times behind the scenes, including serving as the scout-team look for LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier before Alabama’s 42-13 win over the Tigers last month.

"He’s really come a long way,” DeBoer said. “It’s fun seeing him take advantage of even the scout team reps he took and just his ability to throw the ball where he wants it. And sometimes that’s a great opportunity because if you make a mistake it’s not the end of the world, but you can keep honing in on your skills. So, he did a lot this year to help those guys with the defense and now he’s getting more and more reps. So I’m excited about his future, for sure.”