Should loyalty matter for Alabama with QB1 Ty Simpson?
By David Wasson
Published:
And now, a word or 700 about loyalty.
Loyalty is perhaps one of the most admired – and also misunderstood – human traits. Us homo sapiens demand loyalty, either consciously or subconsciously, as one of our primary virtues. We look for it in our mates, with our family, with our friends and social constructs, and even with our coworkers and employers.
Loyalty is valued and cherished by us bipeds, and it should be.
But does it win college football games? Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide are about to find out.
Among the reasons DeBoer listed publicly when he named Ty Simpson as Alabama’s starting quarterback heading into the 2025 season was Simpson’s loyalty – crediting the redshirt junior for staying with the Tide and staying the course both behind Jalen Milroe and through a generational change of leadership.
“That’s what’s great, and why I love rooting for Ty, is just the journey he’s been on and the way he’s been loyal to Alabama, loyal to his teammates,” DeBoer told reporters earlier this week. “He continued to stay and keep fighting and do it in a way where he never lowered his level of character, and always kept being a great teammate, first and foremost.
“So it makes it makes it really easy, from a teammate standpoint, to root for him.”
That is all fine and good, dare say even admirable, for a coach to notice about a player. Especially in this day and age, where loyalty is so often defined by how quickly the NIL paycheck clears. Simpson surely had chances to do what so many of his cohorts across the sport have done – to bolt from Alabama for perhaps more money and perhaps a quicker opportunity at a QB1 slot.
Instead, he stayed the course.
“My journey is like no other,” Simpson said earlier this week. “And I think it meant a lot to the guys as well, knowing that I’ve had opportunities to leave and I didn’t because I want to be here and I want to be with my guys.
“Not only is it hard, sitting and waiting in this new era of college football, but you are sitting and waiting at the best, most competitive college football program in the nation. So I’m very excited for the opportunity I’ve been given.”
Ah ha, there is another word we were hoping wouldn’t collide with loyalty when it comes to Simpson.
Given.
Forgive the pragmatism here but shouldn’t the most competitive program in the nation (by Simpson’s own words) decide who gets the keys to the proverbial Maserati based on sheer talent and ability to win games? This isn’t a lifetime Grammy or an honorary doctorate we are talking about, this is one of the very few jobs in college football that deserves nothing but a merit-based look at who fills it.
Yes, there is something to be said for staying the course. We have seen it at LSU with Garrett Nussmeier and at Texas with Arch Manning – 2 quarterbacks in the SEC who also chose to stick around instead of chase the riches. South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers could have easily upgraded his financial future and bolted from Columbia, too, but he stuck around.
Look, Simpson might be the next Milroe – which is either good or bad, come to think of it, depending a bit on how you tilt your head while defining that declaration. He also might be the next Blake Barnett, who started Week 1 of the 2016 season before Nick Saban replaced him with Jalen Hurts. Simpson might end up being the second coming of A.J. McCarron, but he also might end up being Spencer Pennington 2.0.
Because no one has really seen the battle that raged throughout the summer and fall leading up to Simpson being given the QB1 spot over Austin Mack and Keelon Russell, there is no declarative way of knowing just how much Simpson separated himself from the redshirt sophomore Mack and the true freshman Keelon Russell.
And we also aren’t sitting here second-guessing said decision by DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to anoint Simpson as The Man to lead Alabama’s offense to begin 2025. They’re the experts, after all.
Alabama winning football games is literally almost a billion-dollar business, and it is currently in the hands of Ty Simpson – who could be Joe Namath revisited, another Mark Guillon or Brandon Avalos, or something in the middle.
But choosing Simpson out of loyalty? You better believe there are more than a handful of Crimson Tide fans who will pounce on that most valued of human traits if Alabama starts losing football games.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
