Ryan Grubb, Ty Simpson will influence Alabama season
DeBoer issued no cry for patience – he’ll leave that to Hugh Freeze at Auburn – and he won’t attempt to convince you last season counts as a success.
I respect DeBoer’s straight talk, but if you combine that with 50 cents, you’ll have 50 cents. That’s not enough for college football’s gold standard.
“We need to be that championship program,” DeBoer said during a recent Fox News appearance.
Grubb can help. Sheridan will coach quarterbacks, leaving Grubb to cook up solutions for an offense that ranked in the middle of the SEC. In Alabama’s perfect world, he’d serve a dish looking more like Washington’s offense in 2023 that took the team to the national championship game and less like what we last witnessed from Alabama. Circus music would have been the appropriate accompaniment while the Tide blundered into three turnovers and just 13 points in a bowl game loss to Michigan.
Too bad Grubb couldn’t bring Michael Penix Jr. with him. He’ll inherit a quarterback depth chart featuring a combined 31 career completions. Grubb might come to wish DeBoer had added a transfer to a quarterback competition headlined by career backup Ty Simpson.
“We’re in a much better position,” DeBoer told Fox News of his program when compared to a year ago.
That’s probably true of his coaching staff and of the roster at select positions. Notably, DeBoer added Miami transfer Isaiah Horton to upgrade the Tide’s wide receivers. At quarterback, jury’s still out.
At least DeBoer’s got his consigliere back at his side to help to fix the position. If DeBoer and Grubb pull this off, it’ll be a reminder of that old lesson from Saban’s tenure: Even sharp minds benefit from a reliable wingman.
