As the college football season continues to progress, Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson has managed to force his way into the Heisman Trophy conversation.
It wasn’t an easy road for Simpson though. In a world where NIL money has dominated the sport, Simpson decided to stay put where he’s been all along to wait his turn at one of the more prestigious programs in all of college football.
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The former five-star recruit waited behind the likes of Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe before it was his turn to take snaps as a starter, but that first game against Florida State that resulted in an embarrassing loss was one that you’d think he’d like to forget.
Or would he?
After the gritty win against South Carolina this past Saturday, Simpson made sure to point out that the team’s mission all season long was to be unbreakable.
Unbreakable, huh? That was the first time we heard anyone from the program use that word. But it’s certainly a fascinating word, because ever since Florida State, this team has looked adversity in the eye, laughed, and spit in its face.
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Simpson was on The Jim Rome Show (at the 54-minute mark) earlier on Tuesday, and he elaborated on being unbreakable.
“Our motto coming into this year was to be unbreakable. Because we knew what happened last year, and we knew the schedule this year wasn’t going to be easy. The coaching staff and the players and leadership made sure we do everything we could in the offseason … to make us unbreakable. Whether that makes [for] ridiculously hard workouts, right? To have walk throughs, player-led walk throughs, to hang out on the weekends, get extra stuff in on Saturdays, everything that stacks up days to help us win on Saturdays.”
And a lot of that is on the shoulders of head coach Kalen DeBoer – a coach that not many seemed to think was the right one to follow Nick Saban and the one to help prop Alabama up near the top like it was always expected to.
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But Simpson, whose father is the longtime head coach for UT Martin’s football team, he’s seen just how important DeBoer is for the growth of this program.
“That’s my guy. I live and die by that… It starts with him. He’s the leader, he’s the captain, and it shows how resilient he is from everything that he does, and it’s a trickle-down effect… I think one of the reasons why I stayed is because of him, because I see him and my dad being very similar … the way they coach, just how personable he is… I have a ton of respect for him, being able to take over after the greatest coach of all time; that’s not an easy task.”
Now, with all the success he’s undergone, he’s quickly become a favorite for the Heisman Trophy. From BetMGM, Simpson is tied with Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza to win it at +325 odds.
However, during the offseason, he was as high as +6600 odds.
Rome had asked him what his thoughts were on being a Heisman finalist and earning the trip to New York and being recognized as one of the greatest in the sport.
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But with Simpson being a coach’s son, he quickly deflected it to the team and winning a title.
“I’d be extremely blessed. It’d be a great opportunity. It’s super exciting, right? I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my teammates and everything they do. But I think back to why I came to Alabama and the Championship Hallway that we have and there’s only four Heisman Trophies but there’s six National Championships in there and that’s what I really care about.”
Alabama is on bye this upcoming week, but it takes on LSU on November 8 who will have a totally different head coach.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 CT, and will be broadcasted on ABC.
