{"id":980285,"date":"2026-08-22T17:18:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T17:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/980285\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T17:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T17:18:25","slug":"reports-alabama-names-starting-qb-ahead-of-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/980285\/","title":{"rendered":"Reports: Alabama names starting QB ahead of season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wbrc.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">WBRC<\/a>) &#8211; Reports Saturday morning say that Keelon Russell has been named the starting quarterback for the No. 13 Alabama Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"FILE - Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell (12) warms up before the first round of an NCAA...\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/NT3MLPMC3ZEALPM2YGPHIUETRU.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"653\" \/>FILE &#8211; Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell (12) warms up before the first round of an NCAA College Football Playoff game against Oklahoma, Dec. 19, 2025, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo\/Alonzo Adams, File)(Alonzo Adams | AP)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">ESPN\u2019s Pete Thamel reported Saturday morning that sources have told him the sophomore has won the job over Austin Mack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">The Duncanville, Texas, native saw action in just two lopsided games as a freshman, completing 11 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Russell will replace Ty Simpson, who led Alabama to the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl before being taken by the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the NFL Draft in April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">It was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbrc.com\/video\/2026\/08\/17\/alabama-close-naming-starting-quarterback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wbrc.com\/video\/2026\/08\/17\/alabama-close-naming-starting-quarterback\/\">reported earlier this week<\/a> that head coach Kalen DeBoer was close to choosing a starter after a competitive quarterback battle between Russell and last year\u2019s backup, Austin Mack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Mack stepped in for an injured Simpson in the Rose Bowl, going 11-of-16 for 103 yards in the Tide\u2019s loss to eventual National Champion Indiana.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Alabama will kick off their season Saturday, Sept. 5 against East Carolina inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Get news alerts in the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/wbrc-fox6-news\/id449660326\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple App Store<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.raycom.wbrc&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google Play Store<\/a> or subscribe to our email newsletter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbrc.com\/newsletter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WBRC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) &#8211; Reports Saturday morning say that Keelon Russell has been named the starting quarterback for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":980286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,20851,128738,20853,49,48,88,9,20850],"class_list":["post-980285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-fox6","tag-fxo-6","tag-myfoxal","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-wbrc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117140305278268592","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/980286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}