Ty Simpson has ‘evolved’ key skill that made him dynamic as 5-Star recruit

Photo by Brian Pride - Touchdown Alabama Magazine

Alabama football’s quarterback, Ty Simpson is one of the hottest quarterbacks in college football right now.

The former five-star recruit has been playing at an elite level since the Crimson Tide dropped their first game of the season against Florida State. He has thrown for 1,224 yards and 11 touchdowns in the last four Alabama wins. He has also added two touchdowns on the ground and 52 rushing yards.

Simpson’s first touchdown throw against Vanderbilt was one of the most impressive plays of the game. He faked a toss to the left with Jam Miller and rolled out right. While Simpson looked for a wideout to throw the football to, Vanderbilt’s Miles Capers closed in on him with a good angle. Simpson managed to stop his momentum, step up and leave Capers grasping for air before he ripped the football to Ryan Williams, who worked himself open for six.

Ty Simpson finds a wide open Ryan Williams in the endzone. 🙌

pic.twitter.com/HCptAV6mFU

— Touchdown Alabama (@TDAlabamaMag) October 4, 2025

This looked a lot like Westview High School Ty Simpson. The Ty Simpson who would scare his high school head coach at times with a lot of the plays he made when he would run out of the pocket, almost get sack and rip a beam of a throw.

“It is different and special,” Jarod Neal, who was Westview head football coach while Simpson was with the Chargers, told Touchdown Alabama in February of 2021. “His ability to avoid a sack is really good. Every now and then, you get nervous when he does that because sometimes he will get caught and get sacked, but he also gets away a lot. His throwing ability is very good on the run, and he can make some tough throws.”

Simpson was asked about this part of his game after the Tide beat Vanderbilt, and he talked about how it was something that has evolved while crediting his teammates.

“For a long time since high school, but I feel like I’ve evolved just from playing, but the guys in general have a good sense of getting open and understanding scramble rules,” Simpson said. “Sometimes I get out of there too quickly when there’s a good pocket, just looking back at the iPad on the sideline. The guys up front are doing a good job and I got to step up and make the play, but credit to the wideouts and just everybody else getting open because it’s hard, scramble rules, people don’t really have a good feel for that. These guys here, man, just very, very impressed.”

Simpson’s play as of late has earned the confidence of the Alabama coaching staff. Kalen DeBoer feels this confidence can be seen in the Tide’s play calling.

“You can feel it in the calls that we’re making,” DeBoer said. “We’re aggressive. I mean, we’re backed up in our own territory and throwing the ball down the field with some play action and shots. Ryan catches one down the right sideline there. And when you can do those things and you trust your quarterback as a play caller, and he goes makes those plays, there is a lot of confidence.”

All signs point to Simpson making more plays like this throughout the season.