There has been a lot of speculation on whether Ty Simpson had been dealing with a lingering injury in the middle of the 2025 season. Turns out he was, and it's the primary reason as to why he was struggling so much.
We had a sneaky suspicion that Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was playing the second half of the season with an injury.
How could someone who performed at a Heisman level for six weeks be so average when it mattered most?
We all saw it. Something was just off.
And if we didn’t get an immediate answer, speculation ran amok. It’s human nature.
The week prior to the South Carolina game, Simpson had entered Week 9 with a 73.3% completion rate with only one interception.
From the South Carolina game until the rest of the season, he completed passes at a 61.4% clip.
Now that Alabama’s season is over, after the Rose Bowl, Simpson was asked about it, and he confirmed our suspicions without getting into the nitty-gritty.
"Playing an SEC schedule, I'm always going to get hurt, always going to get dinged up," Simpson said. "I'm not going to get into what I hurt and when I hurt it."
Apart from suffering from a broken rib in the middle of the Rose Bowl, according to Collin Gay of Tuscaloosa News, Simpson had been dealing with a lower back issue since the third quarter of the South Carolina game, after taking a hit from star EDGE rusher Dylan Stewart.
“Simpson has been seen on multiple game broadcasts sitting on the bench with trainers, getting treatment on his lower back. Simpson's lower back problems continued in Alabama's regular-season home loss to Oklahoma when the Sooners recorded four sacks and three quarterback hits.”
Overall, this was a rollercoaster season for the redshirt junior. From dropping a dud in Week 1 against Florida State, to going on an unstoppable run for six weeks, to suddenly becoming vulnerable.
It’s a season that came with a myriad of lessons, but it also confirmed that you’d be hard pressed to find a quarterback more efficient than him during the stretch when Simpson lit up the board.
It’s a bold statement, sure. But 20 touchdowns, one interception at a 73.3% completion rate is nothing to sneeze at. The only quarterback who was more efficient at that time was Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza.
So, what’s next? That’s for him to decide.
Many seem to believe he’s going to the NFL. Many seem to think he has unfinished business at the collegiate level.
And of course, with approximately a third of college football entering the transfer portal, some seem to think that Simpson is going to join in on the chaos.
However, if Simpson decides to return to college, don’t expect him to hit the portal.
Head coach Kalen DeBoer and Simpson have built an unbreakable chemistry, and it doesn’t seem likely that 1) Simpson would even want to leave or 2) DeBoer is pushing him out.
If either of those two options are true, then there may have to be a much bigger discussion to be had as to what is happening behind closed doors at the Mal Moore Facility.
But until then, there’s no reason to panic. Alabama’s quarterback room is in a good place.