The college football you fell in love with has gone to be with Coach Bryant. Let’s be honest, though, you knew that well before seeing a barren Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
Alabama’s A-Day s̶c̶r̶i̶m̶m̶a̶g̶e̶ practice was a dud, but I can’t blame Kalen DeBoer for not wanting to put his roster in the store window four days ahead of the opening of the spring transfer portal. Fans didn’t get a true look at Alabama’s quarterback competition, but at least they won’t have to endure a quarterback search like the one in store for their rivals to the north.
To be fair, Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamleavea up and leavft the Volunteers a day before their annual Orange and White game. If anything that made Tennessee’s spring scrimmage even more anticlimactic than Alabama’s collection of drills.
Iamleavea didn’t kill college football either. By holding out for a new NIL deal, the five-star talent is merely dancing on the grave of a product that has been diminishing over the past few years.
Don’t worry, this column isn’t another tired take on the chicken-or-egg question of what ruined college football first — corporate greed or player salaries and the transfer portal. Who cares? The toothpaste is already out of the tube. This is life in the transfer portal era, so get used to it.
Still, with every spring rain cloud, there’s a silver lining. Hopefully, at least some of the 20,000 or so fans who stumbled into Bryant-Denny Stadium noticed it on Saturday.
Before I get started, I want to be clear that I don’t have a preference in who wins Alabama’s quarterback battle. I will say that with DeBoer reinstating Nick Saban’s no-freshman rule with the media, my job will be a bit harder if Keelon Russell comes out on top. But if the five-star freshman earns the job, you won’t find any complaints from me.
That being said, I will admit that it’s hard not to root for Ty Simpson. Not in a competition sense. Alabama’s next quarterback should be whomever it feels gives it the best chance of making the playoff. But when it comes to Simpson’s story, what college football fan isn’t pulling for him to be successful?
Simpson is an anomaly in today’s microwave era. The former Rivals100 talent has yet to throw a touchdown pass much less start a game during his three seasons at Alabama.
Three years might as well be a lifetime in today’s college football, but Simpson hasn’t even entertained the idea of entering the transfer portal. Not after losing a quarterback battle to Jalen Milroe ahead of the 2023 season, not after Saban’s retirement the following January and not after remaining behind Milroe again last offseason.
Even now, as Alabama remains adamant that there is no separation in its quarterback competition, you won’t catch the redshirt junior attempting to hold the Tide ransom when next week’s portal opens up.
It’s not for lack of offers either. Simpson’s father, Jason, is the head coach of Tennessee-Martin and is well-connected with programs across the nation. Heading into this offseason, Simpson has already ignored NIL offers ranging in the high six-figure range. Those would almost certainly increase to well over the $1-million mark if he were to enter the transfer portal now.
We’ll never know though, because Simpson is wired differently.
“There’s been plenty of big opportunities for Simpson to go to other places over the years,” Jason told Tide Illustrated in February. “He’d just tell me, ‘I don’t even want to know who it is. I’m good here.’ He never wavered. He had a plan and he stuck to it.”
In a college football landscape that now seems foreign, Simpson’s story is a reminder of the persistence and passion that drew so many to the game.
While Alabama hasn’t settled on its next quarterback, most project the Simpson’s patience to pay off this fall. The redshirt junior led the Tide’s passers on Saturday and was the only one to avoid an interception. He didn’t deliver many highlights, but he was the most consistent of Alabama’s quarterbacks, moving the offense through quick efficient passes.
Nothing flashy, but don’t take it for granted. What Simpson is doing at Alabama is refreshingly rare these days.
Drink of the week — Azalea
It’s safe to say that many of the missing fans inside Bryant-Denny were at home tuned into the Masters on Saturday. I even caught a couple of writers streaming it from inside the press box while jotting down notes during practice.
Golf just isn’t for me, but I do appreciate tradition and a good cocktail. That makes this week’s drink an easy choice.
The Azalea is a Masters classic, right up there with egg salad and pimento cheese sandwiches. If you weren’t fortunate enough to make it to Augusta, Georgia this year, don’t worry. Our friends at Session Cocktails whip up a pretty good one here in Tuscaloosa. Here’s how they stir it up.
Combine 2 ounces of vodka, 1 ounce of lemon cordial, 0.75 ounces of grenadine and 0.5 ounces of lemon juice into a mixing glass and shake over ice. Pour the mixture into a glass and top with soda water. Give it a stir, and maybe an orange or lemon wedge, and enjoy.
Cheers!
(Commercial break: My drink of the week section is now sponsored by my friends at Session Cocktails in Tuscaloosa. Session has been a mainstay in Tuscaloosa’s cocktail scene since 2019 and offers some of the tastiest drinks in town. Stop by and tell them I said hi!)
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