Why former Alabama safety likes the Tide starting off with Austin Mack

Dec 31, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Austin Mack (10) throws the ball before a game against the Michigan Wolverines at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Austin Mack and Keelon Russell are expected to continue to compete for the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback role throughout fall camp.

Mack is heading into his fourth season of college football, while Russell is set to enter his second season. Former Alabama safety and SEC Network analyst Roman Harper feels Mack’s experience is why the Tide should lean toward starting with Mack.

“I like starting off with Austin Mack because he’s the older presence, because he is the senior that’s been around this program, and he should be the one that’s more poised and being in situational football awareness,” Harper said on the SEC Network. “He (Kalen DeBoer) talked about Keelon Russell; the biggest thing that he learned earlier this year is that what the defenses are doing. Now he knows what the offense is doing, but now he’s still trying to figure out what the defense is doing. And that’s part of playing quarterback as well. You got to understand what everybody’s doing, not just what’s on your side in the huddle, but also what the defense is doing and what they’re doing so you can get us in the best situations. So, then you’re not in the second and nine like Coach talked about earlier. Now you’re in a second and six, a second and five, much manageable place. So I would start with Austin Mack because of the veteran presence, because you can always go back to the young guy.”

DeBoer provided an update on the Tide’s approach to the quarterback battle on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.”

“I would love to have a guy named already,” DeBoer said. “That is a benefit, but that’s not the case. I think that it comes to the timing. You want to a couple weeks before the season starts, but last year that was what we went in with, but we made the decision earlier than that. Ty (Simpson) had separated himself. So we’ll see how this goes rep-wise. We want to balance it out between the two of them as much as we can. Sometimes it’s a certain day a guy got more reps because his drive was longer and his group stayed on the field. So, you got to make that up and give concepts. You want to get concepts and get guys reps and concepts too. So there’s a lot more that goes into it. I tell our guys, never read into what’s going on day to day. Just focus on the next rep and what you can control.”