Kirby Smart calls Ty Simpson the ‘hottest quarterback in college football’ ahead of Alabama game
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The Georgia Bulldogs escaped the Tennessee Volunteers by the skin of their teeth in Week 3 this season. Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar routinely gashed the Georgia defense on big plays, posting 371 passing yards in the contest. This week, in Kirby Smart’s opinion, the Bulldogs have an even tougher task: containing Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson.
During his Monday press conference, Smart couldn’t say enough good things about Simpson. Smart believes the redshirt junior quarterback is a “tremendous athlete” who poses a lot of problems for opponents. The difficulty in stopping him, to Smart, is ramped up when he’s playing as sharply as he has over the past 2 games.
“I would say he’s probably the hottest quarterback, right now, in all of college football,” Smart told reporters. “His 2 last outings, I don’t know that I’ve seen an incompletion. The ball does not hit the ground.”
As Smart alluded to, the ball has not hit the ground very often recently for Simpson. Versus Louisiana-Monroe and Wisconsin, Simpson connected on 41 of 46 passes (89.1%) for 608 yards, 7 touchdowns and no interceptions. Smart went as far to attribute Simpson’s relatively pedestrian first game — 23/43 (53.5%), 254 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT — to “sloppy weather” more than season-opening jitters.
Smart’s general sentiment on Simpson and Alabama seems even stronger than the feelings he had ahead of Georgia’s meeting with Aguilar and Tennessee. The Bulldogs are also well-aware that Ryan Williams can go up and get the ball for Simpson, like Chris Brazzell II did against them numerous times for Aguilar, if given the opportunity.
Unless they tighten down the hatches, they’ll have to beat the Crimson Tide in shootout fashion. Kickoff in the high-profile matchup is set for 7:30 p.m. E.T. on Sept. 27 (ABC).
