Alabama Crimson Tide facing accusation of tampering for playoff QB by On3 writer while he simultaneously threw shade at Manning Passing Academy
The Alabama Crimson Tide are in the middle of their first quarterback competition under second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer. That battle is raging between Ty Simpson, former Washington transfer Austin Mack, and five-star freshman Keelon Russell. Each brings a unique selling point to the table. As of today, Simpson is viewed as the favorite to […]
The Alabama Crimson Tide are in the middle of their first quarterback competition under second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer. That battle is raging between Ty Simpson, former Washington transfer Austin Mack, and five-star freshman Keelon Russell. Each brings a unique selling point to the table.
As of today, Simpson is viewed as the favorite to win the starting job, but the competition is far from over. He is a former top recruit, but has yet to play meaningful snaps for the Alabama program. Through three seasons in Tuscaloosa, the Tennessee native has attempted just 50 career passes.
No matter how many passes an Alabama quarterback has under his belt, there is naturally going to be a lot of hype for a new starter. If Simpson wins the starting job, that will once again be the case. It was recently announced that the 6-2, 210-pound passer was invited to be one of the counselors at this year’s Manning Passing Academy, which shouldn’t have been much of a surprise.
Counselors come from all over the country, and are there to share some of their knowledge with the younger signal callers who are camping with Peyton, Eli and the Manning family. It isn’t even a major sign of preseason hype per say, but more wanting to get talented quarterbacks with varying levels of experience all together.
Someone should tell that to On3 writer Billy Embody, who wasn’t too happy to see Simpson listed as a notable passer attending the event by his own site.
“Alabama tried to recruit Kevin Jennings into the transfer portal to take over for Milroe, but sure, Ty Simpson deserves a notable mention over Kevin Jennings,” Embody said in a quote tweet on Friday.
Not only was Embody trying to downplay the hype for Simpson and throw shade at the invitation from the event, but he also simultaneously made an accusation about Alabama tampering for SMU starting quarterback Kevin Jennings. The Crimson Tide said goodbye to dual threat signal caller Jalen Milroe this offseason, but didn’t add any new talent to the room other than Russell.
If Alabama did choose to utilize the Transfer Portal for a more proven commodity to add to the competition, nobody would have blamed them. Jennings obviously never officially entered his name into the portal, but that doesn’t stop teams from back channeling to gauge interest. Embody, who does cover SMU for On3, appears to be certain that there was contact between the two sides, at least in some capacity.
It’s quite possible that he has substance to that claim, but that interest was never reported anywhere. It is also the first time I’m hearing about it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t true, but it is still interesting timing to put that information out publicly in this fashion.
In the end, nothing will more than likely come from this public accusation. Every team tampers in some fashion, and the ones that claim they don’t, aren’t being honest. I’m certain that there were probably several programs that tried to push Jennings into the portal, although it’s uncertain if Alabama was really one of them.
While his season did not end on a strong note during the Mustang’s 38-10 playoff loss to Penn State, Jennings mostly had a promising campaign after taking the job from incumbent Preston Stone early in the season. Jennings ended up throwing for 3,245 yards and 23 touchdowns, while also adding another 354 yards and five scores on the ground.
His next step is cut down on the bad turnovers and poor decisions.
It will be interesting to see how each quarterback situation ends up. Will Jennings rebound and ascend to be one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the country? Will Simpson be the answer for the Crimson Tide, or is he just a placeholder under Russell is ready?
Only time will tell.
Top Alabama recruiting target sends a clear message to 'Bama Nation' ahead of his official visit this weekend
One of the top linebackers in the nation, Xavier Griffin, has already picked a date for when he'll announce his commitment. On June 29, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, and Florida State will find out where the five-star defender is headed. Alabama is looking to flip the Georgia native from USC, and his upcoming visit this […]
