- If Ty Simpson can keep doing for Alabama what Bryce Young did in 2021, he’ll be a prime candidate for Heisman Trophy.
- Alabama quarterback relishes victory against Tennessee, the state where he grew up.
- Nick Saban’s cigar strategy serves as inspiration for Ty Simpson.
TUSCALOOSA, AL – Nick Saban’s final Alabama team to play for a national championship did not resemble those that came before it. The 2021 Crimson Tide were not especially ruthless or overwhelming, but they could be magical, because they had Houdini as their quarterback.
Now, Kalen DeBoer’s got a magic man of his own, a third-down maestro named Ty Simpson. Like Young before him, Simpson is helping paper over some of Alabama’s cracks. And if you think the Tide can compete for a national championship, it’s Simpson who makes that theory possible.
He’s the engine behind this six-game Alabama win streak that continued with a 37-20 shredding of No. 11 Tennessee, a result that pushed the Vols to the brink of playoff elimination and buoyed the Tide as an SEC frontrunner.
Simpson needed only three offensive plays to uncork brilliance. He stood in his own end zone on 3rd-and-13, and a safety looked more likely than a conversion after a pair of Tennessee pass rushers pinned him in.
With 607 pounds of defensive linemen harassing him, Simpson calmly danced into a crease of space and ripped a completion to Josh Cuevas.
First down.
Magic, man.
The South’s officially got a Heisman contender to counter Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.
Ty Simpson relishes beating Vols
Simpson, a Tennessee native, couldn’t deny this win in the Third Saturday in October rivalry tasted just “a little bit sweeter” than those that came before this. Alabama and Tennessee were his top two schools as a five-star recruit coming out of Westview High in Martin, Tennessee.
The Vols were navigating a coaching change after the Jeremy Pruitt debacle. Simpson committed to Saban, then mostly sat for three seasons as a backup behind Young and then Jalen Milroe. He’d thrown just 50 career passes before this season.
He’s something of a throwback in this transfer age, as a quarterback who stayed put and developed before becoming a starter as a fourth-year player at the school where he signed.
Credit Saban for landing Simpson. Credit Kalen DeBoer developing him into the SEC’s top-rated passer.
‘I love coach DeBoer,’ Simpson said. ‘I’d go to war with that guy.’
Ty Simpson excels with dad, Jason, in attendance
The Simpson family went 2-0 on this day. Simpson’s dad, Jason, coaches Tennessee-Martin in the Championship Subdivision. That job makes it difficult for him to attend his son’s games.
Tennessee-Martin’s game kicked off against Gardner-Webb in North Carolina six hours before Alabama’s game against the Vols started. Jason Simpson coached the Skyhawks to a 37-7 victory, then hopped on a plane to Alabama.
Simpson knew his dad planned to pull off the unique doubleheader of coaching, then cheering, but he didn’t know when he’d arrive. He made it to the stadium before kickoff.
“Sure enough, I’m warming up on the sideline, and I know his voice from anything,’ Simpson said, ‘and he says, ‘Hey, Ty,’ and I look around and there he was It was just awesome to see him there, honestly.”
“He means the world to me,” Simpson added. “That’s my best friend.”
Ty Simpson enjoys a cigar in the Nick Saban way
Simpson led scoring drives of 91 and 99 yards. Did I mention he’s emerging as a Heisman candidate? He even fashioned himself as a lead blocker when Ryan Williams ran off tackle on a reverse for a first down.
Simpson smoked Tennessee’s shoddy pass defense, but as for the postgame tradition of lighting a cigar after beating the Vols, well, Simpson took his cue from Saban, who famously abstained from smoking but did “chew on one” after his final win against Tennessee.
“When coach Saban was here, he was talking to me about the tradition, and he was like, ‘I don’t even smoke it. I just let it sit in my mouth.’ I kind of take that type of energy,” Simpson said, “but I definitely am going to keep (that cigar) for a while.”
A fine souvenir, indeed. With more performances like this one, perhaps Simpson will capture a souvenir of a different sort in New York City.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.