For a prospect like Ty Simpson, the NFL Combine was one of the busiest weeks of his life. It is, after all, the world’s most intense job fair, where NFL teams line up prospects to take MRIs and X-rays — of everything — before grilling them with questions about the good, bad and most scrutinized plays from their college careers. But at its core, the combine is a football convention, and that seemed to suit Simpson.
One day at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, he walked from a podium, where he had addressed a gaggle of 20-something reporters, to a one-on-one interview with a national outlet. In between those two obligations, multiple reporters tried to get their own one-on-one, if only for a question or two. Because if you’re a quarterback who might land in Round 1 of the NFL Draft, everyone wants a moment of your time.
I asked: What’s your favorite throw of your career?
“It would have been to win the Iron Bowl,” Simpson told me. “So the play call was, ‘Three echo right limbo rocker stick return X-step.’ They played drop-eight [coverage]. I hit Zay [Isaiah Horton] on the cross down the center, as a result of he break up them in opposition to man. It was cool as a result of, one, it was in opposition to Auburn within the Iron Bowl — one thing that was very cool, and one thing that I dreamed about. After which two, it was to ship us to the SEC Championship.”
Inform me you’re a coach’s son with out telling me you’re a coach’s son.
Jason Simpson, Ty’s father, is the pinnacle coach on the College of Tennessee at Martin and has been since 2006. That’s why soccer jargon is likely to be the language that’s most snug for the previous Alabama QB. It’s proper there alongside English as Ty’s first language.
Regardless of Simpson’s lineage, there are numerous causes for NFL groups to not choose him within the first spherical of the 2026 draft. He’s 6-foot-1 and 210 kilos, which is on the smaller aspect for a QB, particularly one who final season fractured a rib and likewise handled a extreme case of gastritis, a bulging disc in his again and elbow bursitis. And that was his solely full season as a starter throughout his 4 years at Alabama. Fifteen begins is simply too few to get an actual sense of who he may be within the execs. And although he had a deeply spectacular eight-game run within the coronary heart of his season, he posted a 57% completion fee over his last 4 video games — in opposition to Auburn, Georgia, Oklahoma and Indiana.
On the NFL Mix, Ty Simpson acquired a prospect grade of 6.30 from Subsequent Gen Stats, placing him within the class of “will finally be a plus starter.” (Picture by Cooper Neill/Getty Pictures)
Any crew that drafts Simpson is probably going pondering he could possibly be their starter in 2027 — not 2026.
Any crew that drafts Simpson is probably going pondering he’s a wonderful developmental prospect, partly due to his acumen for the sport — pushed by the truth that he grew up a coach’s son.
As Simpson’s draft-day projection has turn out to be a lightning rod of discussion, he and his household preserve a gentle confidence in what’s to return. Ty had extra faculty eligibility and will have made thousands and thousands within the switch portal. However Jason instructed me that, even earlier than the draft course of started to unfold, he had “a number of conversations” with Ty about life after faculty.
“I joked with Ty: ‘You’ve got already graduated. You’ve got obtained your grasp’s [degree], so sooner or later, you bought to go to work and get a job. And if it appears to be like such as you obtained an opportunity to go within the first spherical, possibly that is one thing that you simply do. You come out,'” Jason instructed me.
Simpson declared for the draft in January. He will probably be in Pittsburgh on April 23. However even now, nobody appears to agree the place he’ll land.
Nobody besides possibly Simpson himself. Showing on “Jon Gruden’s QB Class,” Simpson was requested who the Raiders ought to take at No. 1 total, Fernando Mendoza or him.
Simpson replied: ” the reply.”
***
All the time, there was what the Simpson household referred to as a “greaseboard” hooked up to the fridge.
Till there wasn’t.
Anytime Ty and Jason had been within the kitchen, that whiteboard didn’t keep hooked up to the fridge for lengthy. They plucked it from its place, and certainly one of them would start to attract up performs. Dad examined son. Then son examined dad.
“He would problem me to attract formations, after which I’d ask him questions of, ‘Draw up a 4-2 protection. Draw up a 4-3 protection. Draw up a quarters protection,’” Jason instructed me. “And he would draw them up when he was somewhat child, and in order that’s simply how he is been wired as an individual.”
Jason instructed me he didn’t plan for his sons Ty or Graham, a highly-ranked 2028 recruit, to turn out to be quarterbacks. It simply occurred. And possibly that’s so. However there’s little doubt that Jason had one thing to do with Ty’s acumen for the sport. In reality, Ty’s highschool coach, Jarod Neal, performed QB for Jason at UT Martin. Due to that cycle of teaching, Simpson’s highschool ran the identical system and used the identical verbiage as Jason’s program at UT Martin.
Because of this, the father-son chalk-talk conversations had been seamless.
All the way in which up till Alabama. That’s when the continuity broke. That’s when Simpson needed to turn out to be his personal man.
“My dad wasn’t within the constructing. My dad wasn’t there,” Simpson mentioned on the mix podium in March. “I talked to him and requested him for steering, and he gave me his two cents, but it surely was all on me. So every thing that I had handled in my profession, it was all based mostly off what I did, and based mostly off how I reacted, and that is life typically.”
As a recruit, Simpson had been thrilled on the thought of taking part in for Nick Saban, who landed the QB regardless of affords from in-state Tennessee and Clemson, amongst others. Any time Saban referred to as, Ty would drop what he was doing and provides the legendary Bama coach his full consideration and professionalism. They had been a pure match for one another, Ty’s mom, Julie Simpson, instructed me.
Which was why it will need to have been arduous for Simpson to say goodbye to Saban, who retired from teaching after the 2023 season. Former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer took over. Simpson stayed.
And in his fourth faculty season (after three completely different offensive coordinators and three completely different QB coaches), Simpson lastly obtained his alternative to play.
“It is simple to root for him,” DeBoer instructed me. “Initially, simply with how he stayed the course right here, and competed, however waited for his time, and saved bettering in the course of the first three years he was right here. And so he is straightforward to root for in that approach.”
Kalen DeBoer did not recruit Ty Simpson, however he rewarded the QB’s persistence and regular enchancment by making him Alabama’s starter final season. (Picture by Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)
It was in his season as a starter that DeBoer discovered what Simpson was made from.
“There’s understanding of the state of affairs, and Ty’s a coach’s child and has been round numerous soccer, and so I believe he can course of that,” DeBoer instructed me. “There’s obtained to be numerous perception and confidence, and there is experiences that he is both seen or went via himself, that most likely permit him to have the ability to simply deal with the second and never let it’s too huge.”
Like in opposition to Auburn — for Simpson’s favourite throw.
Or in opposition to Oklahoma — for DeBoer’s favourite throw by Simpson. There was a go-ahead, 30-yard landing cross to receiver Lotzeir Brooks in the beginning of the second half. Simpson hit Brooks on the shoulder in a spot the place the defender fell over backward attempting (and failing) to make a play. Alabama would go on to upset Oklahoma.
Or Simpson’s whole recreation in opposition to Georgia again in September.
“It has been nice to see that development, however not stunning,” mentioned Nick Sheridan, former Alabama co-offensive coordinator and present Michigan State OC. “As a coach, you see this pretty commonly. You see an 18-year-old child flip right into a 22-year-old man, and what that appears like, and definitely the expansion that occurred for him at Alabama, lots of people deserve numerous credit score for that — actually no one greater than Ty.”
It’s straightforward to overlook that Simpson’s first begin was a disappointment. Within the 2025 season opener, he went 23-of-43 (53.5%) for 254 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-17 loss to unranked Florida State. It caught the Alabama world off guard. Frankly, it didn’t make any sense — not even in hindsight. And it led to an amazing quantity of criticism on the outset of Simpson’s season.
Following that loss, he began exceeding expectations — and folks saved transferring the objective posts. However when Simpson and the Crimson Tide upset Georgia (then No. 5 within the nation) in Week 4, it was arduous to disclaim that he had arrived.
“He will get the criticism that he will get simply due to the place. And so you then assume, properly, he will redeem himself,” Julie instructed me. “Ready on him to return out of the locker room after the Georgia recreation, and him popping out and simply taking a look at me with that grin. It was like, ‘There! Now I confirmed them what I can do.’ That is most likely my favourite reminiscence [of his college career].”
In a 24-21 upset over No. 5 Georgia final September on the street, Ty Simpson threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 3rd TD. (Picture by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Pictures)
Jason couldn’t be there for that recreation. (He missed most of his son’s video games, as a result of each their groups play on Saturday.) However there was a tent on the UT Martin area that had a TV, which confirmed the Georgia-Alabama recreation. And although Jason was calling offensive performs for his crew, he did what he may to regulate the Bama rating.
“Kinda distracting, proper?” Jason mentioned, with a chuckle.
However on Oct. 18, Jason didn’t have to fret about that distraction. UT Martin had a 1:30 p.m. ET kickoff in opposition to Gardner-Webb in North Carolina. And Alabama hosted Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. CT. It was possible that Jason may full his recreation — and make it to Bryant-Denny Stadium in time for kickoff.
UT Martin throttled Gardner-Webb 37-7. And by 5:37 p.m. CT, he was on the sector in Tuscaloosa.
“He and I embraced earlier than the sport. For me to win, professionally, my recreation, however get to go be a dad and watch him, that was a extremely cool day,” Jason instructed me. “That was an excellent day for the Simpson household.”
Ty Simpson hugs his dad Jason Simpson, head coach of UT Martin, throughout warm-ups previous to Alabama dealing with Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Oct. 18, 2025. (Picture by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Pictures)
There’s an actual significance to that win that goes past the household second.
You need to go approach again — up to now that Jason didn’t even make the connection on the time. Ty was virtually 3 years outdated when Jason took the job at UT Martin. And in order that meant that every one of Simpson’s childhood recollections got here from his time round that soccer crew.
“Ty grew up in Hardy Graham Stadium. He grew up in that locker room, and he went to each one of many UT Martin video games,” Jason mentioned. “He did not know there was a distinction between FCS and FBS, proper? UT Martin was his Alabama.”
However UT Martin was not Alabama. Simpson discovered that the arduous approach.
“We performed UT Knoxville [University of Tennessee] and, really, [Ty] obtained to fulfill Peyton Manning earlier than the sport,” Jason instructed me. “He was just a bit child. I believe they beat us fairly good. I believe that was the primary time he realized, ‘Oh, their gamers are somewhat larger and stronger and sooner than ours.’”
There’s nonetheless a photograph within the Simpson family of Ty crying after that recreation.
“I believe that is when he began realizing, ‘Oh, that is why their stadiums are larger than ours,’” Jason mentioned.
If solely Jason may’ve instructed Ty he’d be taking part in in a type of stadiums someday, the place he’d get revenge in opposition to UT.
If solely he may inform him that he’s more likely to be taking part in in even larger stadiums within the NFL.
Then once more, figuring out how a lot Ty loves his dad and his dad’s crew, possibly it wouldn’t have made it any higher. That love for the sport is likely one of the many qualities that’s positive to assist him within the NFL.
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Simpson will attend Day 1 of the draft, and the household stays assured he’ll land within the high 32 picks.
“We really feel fairly good in regards to the state of affairs that he’s in proper now with the groups that we’re having conversations with, and so I’m excited for him,” Jason instructed me.
An NFL crew goes to select him to turn out to be its franchise quarterback — down the road, most likely holding him off the sector initially of his professional profession. And provided that he caught it out at Alabama and developed patiently behind Bryce Younger and Jalen Milroe, there’s no query, not less than with the individuals who know him greatest, that Simpson can replicate his rise at Alabama.
“I believe you must observe guys forward of you that do it at a excessive stage after which make it your personal,” Sheridan instructed me. “And I believe that is what he is completed [with the Crimson Tide], and I do know he’ll proceed to try this, as a result of he is obtained a love for soccer. He needs to be pretty much as good as he presumably may be. And so he likes to play.”
And Simpson proved in 2025 that when the time comes for him to play, he can and can put all of it collectively.
