Sometime, ND somewhere on this forum, I got into a discussion with someone about Ty and his speed. It was brief: you all know the bullet points.
- In a straight out sprint, Ty isn't going to be Jalen.
- And that's it.
Two days ago I watched a guy who "covers the SEC" say that Ty was never known as anything other than a pocket QB. He's not a running threat. (Another example of a lot of people underestimating the potential of this team.) Fortunately, his "co-host" reminded him that Ty was the #2 dual-threat QB in the nation coming out of high school.
Yesterday, sometime, somewhere ... Keenan made these comments about Ty.
Defensive tackle Tim Keenan -- a strong candidate to become a team captain this season -- shared his nickname Wednesday for quarterback Ty Simpson.
"Man, Slime, he good -- that's what I call him," Keenan said. "I call Ty, 'Slime.'"
"Ty, he can get up out that pocket. He got a little wiggle to him," Keenan said. "He ain't made me touch no grass or nothing like that, but he disappeared on me a couple times. Ty, he be back there moving around."
"Ty, he's been doing a great job as far as stepping into that role, winning the job," Keenan continued. "I've seen the work -- there's definitely been some days where you're like, 'Man, alright, I got you tomorrow.' Some of them days. I'm excited and I love what I'm seeing from Ty."
"For him to wait his turn, knowing that putting his faith in God, knowing that when it's my time, I'm going to do what I need to do with it -- that's just what y'all seeing. A guy who can see it through, do what he needs to do and work his way into a job."
Zabian Brown:
"Ty, he's a leader of men," Brown said. "I'm extremely glad that he's my quarterback."
Overcoming Simpson's mobility is a struggle of its own for Alabama's defensive backs.
"He's checking out every play. He's making his alerts and going like that, it really makes it sharper," Brown said.
"And it's hard because we can't like really scout against them. So they are installing new things every day, but it's obviously a challenge. We're all for it and it will help us down the road, no doubt," Lawson said.
In the backfield, Brown and company can count the interceptions they've grabbed with just one hand, and the sophomore attributes the lack of takeaways to the "chess match" led by Simpson and fellow quarterback Austin Mack behind the line of scrimmage.
"Those guys, they're a real tight knit group," Brown said. "If we're showing coverages too early, not disguising right, it's a lot of checks. A lot of mental games out there."