The Alabama Crimson Tide is using fall camp to try to figure out who the starting quarterback is going to be, but so far the battle between former five-star sensation Keelon Russell and more experienced veteran Austin Mack has not seen much separation.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb spoke to media after practice this week and was naturally asked if either Mack or Russell had created any distance in their bid to be QB1, proceeding to give a surprisingly honest answer that revealed the decision is still being made.
“No, not yet,” Grubb said via On3. “They’ve been doing a good job. It’s been an even battle…I keep saying command, and I think one of the things that I’ve been challenging them just now is command of a practice. I want to know what it feels like when the chips are down a little bit in a practice, or maybe we had a three-and-out to move the ball, what did they look like? And how are their teammates responding to them? So, certainly you can’t just have the rah-rah guy start if you can’t throw the freaking ball.
“But I’m definitely looking for command because they’re both capable physically of making all the plays. Now, you’re starting to look at decision-making, completion percentages, turnovers, explosives, how all those things obviously weigh out. But then also just does it look like that guy believes, like, ‘I’m going to make this play.’ And both those guys are getting better at that every day.”
Perhaps Grubb knows a little bit more than he is letting on, but it does seem like a decision certainly has not been finalized at this point.
Mack seemingly entered the spring as the favorite given his extra year of experience in DeBoer’s system, but Russell is holding his own and making a real push at the job despite serving as the third string last season as a true freshman.
In reality, both are capable of operating the Alabama offense and it may be more up to the players around them to determine the ceiling, but until a starter is named, fans and media will continue to wonder daily who ultimately gets the first crack at the job when the Tide hits the field this fall.
