The Alabama Crimson Tide travel to Tallahassee on Saturday to take on Florida State in their season opener, where Ty Simpson will make his first career start. Ryan Grubb, who has plenty of experience as an offensive coordinator, will be Simpson’s fourth coordinator in as many years when he makes his first appearance as the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator on Saturday.
In an interview on Monday morning, Grubb had a little piece of advice for his starting quarterback in his first start.
“Just play ball,” Grubb said. “I think that Ty [Simpson] plays his best when he stays calm and collected, just like any quarterback. I think as long as he stays within himself and doesn’t try to make each play bigger than it is, he’ll be just fine.”
Simpson has been the front-runner to be Alabama’s next quarterback since the end of last season, and after the first fall scrimmage, he was officially named the starter.
With only 16 appearances under his belt, Simpson is the Crimson Tide’s most experienced quarterback. In those 16 games, he has attempted 45 passes while completing 25 of them for 346 passing yards. Simpson has zero passing touchdowns in his career, but has scored three rushing touchdowns.
In 2019, as Fresno State’s offensive coordinator, Grubb was faced with a similar situation, having a quarterback make his first career start on the road. Grubb said he delivered the same message to Simpson that he had given back in 2019.
“You just have got to get the guy playing his game,” Grubb said. “You don’t have to push him to different throws that are outside of it. You just want him to get in and play within the structure of the offense and let the plays come to him, instead of him trying to have to manufacture everything.”
“Because, I think you just tell quarterbacks, there’s going to be plays where off-platform throws, plays that aren’t scripted that way, he’s going to have to make a play. So we try to create an environment where there’s enough structure for him to make the plays that are available and not make the easy ones look hard," he added.
Despite Saturday being Simpson’s first career start, his lengthy role as a backup for three years has given him enough experience to have the Alabama coaching staff confident in his ability to run the Crimson Tide offense.
“I understand it’s his first game, but for how long he’s been in college, he’s got a few games under his belt in different ways,” said head coach Kalen DeBoer. “It might feel that way for him, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in him and his emotional maturity and where he’s at, to be able to take this in stride and it not be something overwhelming to him.”
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