Turf Show Times
Ty Simpson is not your typical former five-star recruit, neither in how long it took him to become a starter at Alabama, nor in the fact that his time on the bench to prevent him from becoming a first-round pick. Despite spending his first three years as a backup, including two behind a starter whose accuracy was a significant hindrance to the team, Simpson has been tabbed as the heir apparent to Matthew Stafford.
The Los Angeles Rams believe in Simpson’s talent. And so do some of the people who followed his unusual journey over four years at Alabama.
Brent Taylor is a writer at the SB Nation’s Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll and he’s been through the entire Simpson experience over the last four seasons, from being one of the more unheralded five-star QB recruits of his time, to finally getting his shot to start three years later, until his body was nearly coming apart at the seams by the end.
I asked Brent about what it was like, from the fan’s experience, to track Simpson from recruit, to competing for the most important job on the team, to his one season as the starter.
“There was a large contingent of Alabama fans who really wanted to see Simpson in early 2023 when Jalen Milroe first won that job (me included). It went kind of weirdly… ”
As well as if he’s surprised that Simpson went 13th overall and what the quarterback’s greatest strength and greatest weakness will be going into the most important job on the Rams.
“It’s something that you just don’t see from college QBs often these days…”
Here’s what he had to tell me about Simpson, then and now.
Q: What was the feeling among fans when Ty Simpson committed as a recruit in 2022? Where does he rank among Saban’s QB recruits all-time?
Brent Taylor: Simpson was relatively under-the-radar for a 5-star QB recruit. Cade Klubnik and Drew Allar were the big two that year, and Simpson, despite a #29 overall ranking, was a guy that was coming from a small school in Tennessee, and it just didn’t really draw the hype you usually get from a 5-star passer. Still, there were a lot of high expectations for him, despite most of us knowing he was a guy that would likely take a couple of years to adjust to college speed (he made a LOT of hay in high school just running read options, scrambling around, and being a better athlete than everyone on the field).
As far as where he fit in the All-Time Saban recruit rankings, there was Blake Barnett in 2015 (major bust), Tua Tagovailoa in 2017, and #1 overall recruit Bryce Young in 2020 that all out-ranked him in terms of recruiting rankings and fan expectations. You could also throw in current Ohio State QB Julian Sayin on that list on a technicality, since he did sign with Nick Saban…. he just also transferred a month later when...
