Alabama offensive coordinator gives update on QB battle early in fall camp
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Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb met with reporters on Monday after the Crimson Tide’s fall camp practice and naturally one of the questions he was hit with had to do with the elephant in the middle of the room.
In other words, the battle between Keelon Russell and Austin Mack to be Alabama‘s next starting quarterback. The common narrative coming into fall camp was that Russell, a redshirt freshman, had the edge on Mack, a redshirt junior, after Russell outplayed Mack during the A-Day Spring Game.
But Mack was banged up that day back in April, and here we are in August, when 1 of the 2 signal-callers is likely to separate himself from the other to be the successor to Ty Simpson. That might ultimately happen in the month leading up to the Sept. 5 season opener against East Carolina, but Grubb was here to say Monday as we sit very early in camp that it hasn’t happened yet.
“No, not yet,” Grubb said. “They’ve been doing a good job. It’s been an even battle.”
For now, as Alabama starts the first full week of fall camp, that’s what anxious Tide fans are going to have to sit with regarding the battle that everyone wants to talk about right now. Grubb didn’t give anyone anything other than what the reality is right now, that neither Russell nor Mack has a real edge with the season opener still 26 days away.
No matter who wins the starting quarterback job, Alabama will have a tall task on its hands to get back to the SEC title game. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Crimson Tide’s chances to get back to the big game and win it to regain SEC supremacy in 2026:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
