TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama didn't need to turn to the transfer portal or the recruiting trail to find a replacement for potential first-round draft pick Ty Simpson.
The Crimson Tide had two options waiting for a shot.
Austin Mack and Keelon Russell, the two guys Simpson beat out to start last fall, have spent spring practice vying for the job. Coach Kalen DeBoer has declined to offer much detail on any separation, but the team's annual spring game Saturday could provide a glimpse into the competition.
“Getting a lot of good reps,” DeBoer said. ”I love the aggressiveness that they have. They're not gun shy. They go and make plays, attacking whenever they get the right opportunities with the throws. And they're making the throws."
Replacing Simpson, who threw for 3,567 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading Alabama to the College Football Playoff, is one of many offensive changes for the Tide in 2026.
DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb are trying to replace eight starters on that side of the ball. The list includes Simpson, four offensive linemen, receiver Germie Bernard, tight end Josh Cuevas and running back Jam Miller.
Alabama also made a change at quarterbacks coach, with tight ends coach Bryan Ellis getting elevated to replace Nick Sheridan, who was hired as offensive coordinator at Michigan State.
But Ryan Coleman-Williams is back with a new number and should provide a go-to target for whoever ends up taking snaps in the season opener against East Carolina on Sept. 5.
“The guys are coming through, making plays and catches for them," DeBoer said. "I think they’re gaining more confidence in the offensive line each and every day. That’s going to take time; there’s a lot of (new) faces up front. ... They’re clear with their communication. There’s not a lot that’s catching them off guard, so they can go out and let their skills speak for themselves and make the plays.”
Mack, a redshirt junior, followed DeBoer from Washington in 2024. The 6-foot-6 Californian appeared in four games last season, completing 24 of 32 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
His most notable appearance came when he filled in for Simpson in a loss to Indiana in the Rose Bowl. Mack completed 11 of 16 passes for 103 yards and led the Tide to its only score in the 38-3 drubbing.
Russell, a redshirt freshman, is the highest-rated recruit to sign with Alabama in the modern era, according to 247 Sports. The 6-foot-3 Texan appeared in two games in 2025 — against Louisiana-Monroe and Eastern Illinois — and completed 11 of 15 passes for 143 yards and two scores.
“One of the biggest things this year was to get smarter,” Russell said during Rose Bowl preparations. “Understanding the offense, just building my confidence level. I feel like I’ve grown, developed and feel like I’m becoming more of an NFL-ready quarterback.”
The Tide would settle for finding a college-ready guy, the next in line at a place that's enjoyed Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, Bryce Young, Jalen Milroe and Simpson over the last decade.
“Obviously, Keelon is a really, really good athlete,” Grubb said. “I think his feet probably come into play. I think you saw it in the Rose Bowl, obviously Austin can run a little bit. ... It’s not like Austin can’t run, but there is a piece of athleticism there with Keelon that’s different from some guys.
“As far as arm talent, they’re both supremely talented as far as pushing the ball all over the field. There’s not going to be a throw I have in the game plan that I have for one but couldn’t do with the other. Both have quick releases. Accuracy is something they’re both working on. But very similar guys. I don’t think other than Keelon’s feet, there’s a massive difference, other than size.”
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FILE - Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer talks with visitors during Alabama's NFL football pro day, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
FILE - Indiana defensive back Devan Boykin, right, sacks Alabama quarterback Austin Mack during the second half of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell (12) warms up before the first round of an NCAA College Football Playoff against Oklahoma, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Negotiators from Iran and the U.S. prepared for high-level talks with their ceasefire still shaky Friday, as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
There remain many issues that could derail the truce — as well as negotiations for a broader deal to permanently end the war.
Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guard, claimed that talks set for Saturday wouldn’t happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon. And U.S. President Donald Trump complained that Iran was “doing a very poor job” by not allowing the free flow of ships through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s traded oil once passed.
Kuwait, meanwhile, said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region. Though Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching any assault, it has carried out attacks across the Mideast in the past that it did not claim.
And yet, preparations for the talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be moving forward, with U.S. Vice President JD Vance making his way to Pakistan from Washington. Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, meanwhile, are expected to begin next week in Washington, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter.
Before his departure, Vance said he believes negotiation with Iran will be “positive.”
But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
Israel’s insistence that the ceasefire in Iran does not include a pause in its fighting with Hezbollah, which joined the war in support of its backer, Iran, has threatened to scupper the deal.
The day the truce was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. It was the deadliest day in the country since the war began Feb. 28.
Trump said Thursday that he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial back the strikes. Early Friday, Israel’s military said it hit approximately 10 launchers in Lebanon that had fired rockets toward northern Israel a day earlier.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned Thursday that continued Israeli attacks on Hezbollah would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses.”
Netanyahu, meanwhile, said that he authorized the negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” with the aim of disarming Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors, which have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948.
The Lebanese government had not responded as of early afternoon Friday. The timing and location of the talks were first reported by Axios.
In a first statement since Israel announced direct negotiations with Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem urged Lebanese officials to stop offering “free concessions” but did not take a clear stance on the talks.
Two days after Israel's intense barrage, people sifted through the wreckage of their homes, trying to salvage whatever furniture and personal mementos they could find. Some expressed gratitude that they did not lose their loved ones.
“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced.”
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driven stocks down and roiled the world economy. Tehran's control over the waterway has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war.
The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $97 Friday, up more than 30% since the war started.
Before the conflict, over 100 ships passed through the strait each day — many carrying oil to Asia. With the ceasefire in place, only 12 have been recorded passing through.
Underscoring the precarious situation, a Botswana-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard, but suddenly turned around early Friday, ship-tracking data showed.
The head of the United Arab Emirates’ major oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, said some 230 ships loaded with oil were waiting to get through the strait and must be allowed “to navigate this corridor without condition.”
Trump complained about that situation, writing on his social media platform: “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”
“That is not the agreement we have!” Trump wrote of the trickle of ships Iran has allowed to pass.
Questions also remain over the fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war.
The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to make them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.
Trump has said that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, though Tehran has not confirmed that.
The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, said Thursday that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is “necessary” for any ceasefire talks.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, a top Iranian officer told the state-run Iran newspaper. Iran’s government has not provided any definitive death toll from the weekslong war.
In Lebanon, more than 1,888 people have been killed and 1 million have been displaced. Over a dozen people have died in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, while 23 civilians were killed in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces shot down Iranian‑designed Shahed drones in several Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war. The missions, carried out with domestically produced interceptor drones, were part of efforts to help partners counter the same weapons Russia uses in Ukraine, he said.
Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong; Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Will Weissert in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.
A Lebanese civil defense worker, right, stands with a resident at the site of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A Lebanese civil defense worker looks on as an excavator operates on the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman carries a flag of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group during a ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A poster is pasted on a motorbike windshield with graphic depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as government supporters gather to mark the 40th day since the killing of his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People residing in an underground shelter pack up their belongings as they prepare to leave after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Mourners carry the coffin of Mohammad Zein al-Abedin Shehab, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike a day earlier, during his funeral procession in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Displaced families extend their hands while waiting for donated food beside the tents they use as shelters after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
