TAMPA, Fla. -- Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is not in a hurry to name a starting quarterback, saying Wednesday at SEC media days that Keelon Russell and Austin Mack are in a competition headed into fall camp "that's going to lead to a tough decision."
Russell, one of the top prospects in the country in the class of 2024, and Mack -- who has played for DeBoer at multiple stops -- have been competing for the job to replace Ty Simpson since spring practice.
Both players have been taking equal reps, and DeBoer said the determining factor in who wins the job will come down to poise and who can move the ball up and down the field.
"Our quarterbacks do have the belief and trust amongst our entire team," DeBoer said. "There are different ways where I've seen that, whether it was in the spring or through the summer. There are different conversations, different activities that we do where I really can get a good feel of it being genuine, that our team trusts that whoever steps on the football field and takes those snaps is going to be a guy -- and I think that's because they believe in both guys."
Receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams pointed out that both Russell and Mack have been coming to the facility at 4 a.m. to each get better. He praised Mack for his experience in the offense as something that sets him apart, while also noting Russell has not acted like a five-star recruit and has made huge strides since his arrival.
"With Keelon, just his playmaking ability to not only use what he's learned in the film room or from other guys, but he still is true to himself when it comes to sometimes letting his natural abilities showcase," Coleman-Williams said. "It's super fun to see both of those guys and it's super exciting to see them reflect off each other just because it forces them day in and day out to be their best because they have no other choice."
Simpson led Alabama to the College Football Playoff, but the Crimson Tide lost to Indiana 38-3 in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. Critics have suggested Alabama quit at the end of the game, a notion returning players pushed back on.
"They can say what they want. It's free country," Alabama safety Bray Hubbard said. "They were a great team. They played really sound. It's hard to go undefeated, but I mean they went undefeated and won the national championship for a reason. They were a great team, but I don't think we tapped [out]. They were a good team, and it was just one of those days."
DeBoer said he is relying on his veterans to raise the bar in the locker room.
"I've counted on those guys that you're talking about to have that understanding that this is where the bar's at," DeBoer said. "We need to raise our level to that and then some, because everyone across the country is going to where the national championship bar was at and what that looks like. So you've got to go above that. You can't just go to that. You've got to go above it."
Cornerback Zabien Brown said that is exactly what has happened this offseason.
"We don't need to talk about it every day to feel it," Brown said. "I remember our strength coach brought it up the other day in the weight room and you could just feel it, just seeing everybody feel those words. We don't got to talk about it. We feel it. We see how hard we are working, and it's really motivational.
"Because when I see Ryan working so hard or Dijon [Lee] working so hard, I'll be damned if I don't get this last set in. So it's little things like that which I think we're so good at right now and pushing each other."