After Alabama’s 38-3 loss to Indiana in the Rose Bowl, quarterback Ty Simpson revealed that he suffered a fractured rib in the first half that ultimately led to him being replaced by Austin Mack.
Simpson said the injury occurred on a third-down scramble late in the second quarter, the play where he fumbled the football after a hit from an Indiana defender and turned the ball over.
“On the fumble, took a helmet to the rib,” Simpson said. “Cracked my rib. Tried to go back in the second half. Just felt like the best chance for us to win in the second half was Austin.”
According to Simpson, an X-ray was taken at halftime, and that’s when the fracture was discovered. He tried to play through the pain early in the third quarter, but his only second half drive ended after three plays. Mack entered the game the next drive.
This confirms that Simpson was not benched because of his performance, and DeBoer has yet to bench a quarterback for that reason since taking the Alabama head coaching job.
Simpson’s final statline was 12 completions for 67 yards, and he rushed three times for 17 yards and a fumble.
Throughout the back half of Alabama’s season, fans and media speculated about the health of Simpson as his play declined from game to game. Despite the speculation, his name was never added to player availability reports, and Simpson and his coaches barely entertained the weekly questions about Simpson’s health.
Simpson was asked about his health throughout the season and if anything significant persisted from week to week.
“I really don’t want to get into that, honestly,” Simpson said. “There was lots of speculation. Playing an SEC schedule, I’m always going to get hurt. Always going to get dinged up. I’m not gonna get into what I hurt.”
At the moment, Simpson does not know if he’s returning to college football or declaring for the NFL Draft.
