Unlike Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, Bama quarterback Ty Simpson is very familiar with the program’s rivalry with the Tennessee Vols.

(Grubb said this week that he’s still “finding out” about the rivalry with Tennessee.)

Simpson grew up watching SEC football in Martin, TN. He knows all about the Vols, the Third Saturday in October, and what the rivalry means to both programs.

The redshirt junior quarterback attended some Tennessee games as a youngster — including one in 2010 against UT-Martin (Simpson’s dad, Jason, has been the head coach at UT-Martin since 2006).

“Of course, I grew up watching them (Tennessee),” said Simpson on Tuesday. “”My favorite guy was Peyton Manning. I remember my dad playing them — shoot, I guess it would have been Derek Dooley’s first ever game there — they whooped my dad’s tail 50-0. I actually had two memories. One was I was crying in a little locker room right there, because I didn’t really know at the time with FBS versus FCS, how it worked. So I was like, ’50 to nothing? What the heck? What’s going on?’

“But the second part was Peyton Manning was on the other sideline. In pre-game, I walked over there and I asked him, ‘How does it feel to play against your brother in the NFL?’ And I remember it like it was yesterday. He was like, ‘Man, it’s really hard, but it’s fun’. So that’s one of my favorite memories as a kid, good and bad. But just great to be a part of that.”

Ty Simpson says the game against Tennessee is not “personal”

Simpson told reporters last weekend following Alabama’s win over Missouri that the game against Tennessee on Saturday isn’t personal for him.

“Of course, growing up, I knew about Tennessee and the Big Orange,” said Simpson. “But I don’t want to say it’s personal by any means. It’s just another game. I’m not going to make it bigger than it is. Obviously, a really good team coming in here [with] a really good defense, and a really good offense. We know what happened last year, but it’s just like Vanderbilt week. We’re not going to make it about last year; it’s going to be about this year.”

Simpson was recruited by Josh Heupel and the Vols in early 2021. Heupel, however, had been hired as Tennessee’s head coach just a month before Simpson announced his commitment. And the Vols were in the midst of a massive NCAA investigation due to previous head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

As a result, Heupel and the Vols never had a legitimate chance to land Simpson.

That’s why it certainly makes sense that Simpson isn’t making this game personal. Heupel and his staff, after all, tried to convince Simpson to play for the Vols. It was Simpson that said no thanks, not the other way around.

Tennessee Volunteers News

‘They give up a lot of yards’ – Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver issues a challenge to the Tennessee Vols defense

The Alabama Crimson Tide are set to host the Tennessee Vols in Tuscaloosa this weekend. Tennessee won last year’s rivalry game against Alabama in Knoxville.

Zach Ragan