Alabama QB Ty Simpson breaks his silence on pursuit by Miami Hurricanes and other suitors in the transfer portal
The Canes pushed hard for the Alabama quarterback, but their efforts came up short.
The Miami Hurricanes have a big roster question mark next season at the quarterback position with Carson Beck out of eligibility. With some talented but inexperienced in-house options in Emory Williams, Luke Nickel, and Dereon Coleman waiting for their opportunities, Mario Cristobal turned his sights towards a number of experienced QB options in the portal this month.
However, things didn’t go as the program had hoped. They lost out on Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt to LSU, who he signed with on Monday. And Alabama QB Ty Simpson will forego his last year of college and go into the NFL Draft.
Miami made a strong push late on Sunday to get Simpson to change his mind. Did the Canes come close? They gave Simpson something to think about, at least.
On3 Sports college football insider Chris Low spoke with Simpson this week, and he said that ultimately, despite the strong offers he was getting, he wanted to keep his legacy at Alabama intact.
Ty Simpson said that going to Miami or Tennessee for money would have tainted his legacy at Alabama
Simpson told Low that Miami came in at $6.5 million after missing out on Leavitt. He admitted the money had him on the fence about what to do, but then he decided that, as a captain, he wanted to go out as a member of the Crimson Tide.
“I know people always say it’s not about the money, and I could have made way more money somewhere else, but I was happy at Alabama and wanted to stand on what I built there. That’s the way I wanted to go out,” Simpson told Low.
“I was honest and told them (Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb) 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.”
It’s interesting to hear Simpson talk about legacy at Alabama because he started for the Crimson Tide for one season. He redshirted after appearing in four games in 2022 and he backed up Jalen Milroe in 2023-24. He started this season and led the Crimson Tide to a blowout SEC championship game loss, a 34-24 playoff win over Oklahoma, then was part of the Crimson Tide’s worst bowl loss ever, 38-3 to Indiana in the Rose Bowl.
Miami has certainly shown that players can come to Coral Gables and either improve their draft stock significantly (Cam Ward) or compete for a national championship (Carson Beck). Their track record with veteran quarterbacks recently is second to none.
But to each his own, and for Simpson, that means leaving college with his feelings of loyalty to Alabama intact and, honestly, with a lot of money still ahead of him in the NFL. Despite the opportunity in Coral Gables or Knoxville, Simpson moving on to the NFL is a move that he’s comfortable with.
And Miami will have to take a hard look at how they’re going to proceed at the position in 2026.
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