Ty Simpson reveals how close he came to undoing everything he built as quarterback of the Alabama Crimson Tide
Ty Simpson proved his loyalty to the Crimson Tide.
Ty Simpson has had one of the wildest six months that you can imagine. After being named starting QB this offseason and struggling against Florida State, the signal caller went on a tear that had him as a Heisman favorite and potential first overall pick.
Then came injury, which created a regression not only for Simpson but for the Alabama Crimson Tide in general. That led to Simpson weighing all options on his future, and he decided to enter the NFL Draft. However, that’s where things got interesting.
Ty Simpson received multiple seven-figure offers to return to school
As first reported by A to Z Sports Alabama, when the Miami Hurricanes struck out on Sam Leavitt, who chose the LSU Tigers instead, Miami checked in on Simpson to make sure he was fully declared, as the national champion contenders have no clear QB option for 2026. Simpson knew he couldn’t return, however.
“I really felt good with my decision to go pro, but that amount of money to play college football again for what amounts to about eight months makes you stop and think,” Simpson told On3 in a sit down interview. “I remember my parents telling me that $6 million was more than they had made the whole time they had been married, but the thing they wanted most for me was to be happy.
“I was honest and told them [Alabama] what I’d been offered, but that I just couldn’t do it because of everything I stood for and what Alabama had meant to me and the legacy that I built there. Everybody would just remember me as the guy who took all this money and went to Miami or Tennessee for his last year. But I was a captain. I put my hand and footprints in the cement at Denny Chimes. I would have lost everything that I built at Alabama.”
That kind of mentality is rare from collegiate athletes in this current climate. NIL and the transfer portal has turned into a pay-for-play, every year is free agency sort of model. Now, not every player has the NFL Draft resume that Simpson does, but he’s no lock for the first round, even if his dad says so.
You never know how that board will fall draft on draft night. He’s very likely to be the second quarterback taken in the draft following Dante Moore’s decision to return to the Oregon Ducks, but he won’t see the majority of the money on his rookie contract until year three and four, and that’s if he’s taken in the first round.
So while it was tempting and Simpson thought long and hard about everything, it’s good to see him stand by Alabama.
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