Crimson Tide football

It is a well-versed group of athletic directors, former coaches and players along with a sports writer, who will be armed with statistics, analytics, charts and graphs and enough highlights to start their own college football network as the settle into their work on the College Football Playoff selection committee. In the end, though, the sport's method of determining a champion – or at least deciding who gets the right to play for the championship – comes down to a matter of opinion.

Number eight ranked Alabama has named Ty Simpson its starting quarterback heading into the team’s season opener at Florida State. Coach Kalen DeBoer told Simpson along with fellow QBs Austin Mack and Keelon Russell before sharing the news with the team Monday.

Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer told reporters at SEC Media Days how he was hyper focused on the season opener against Florida State in Tallahassee. The AP poll may give a clue on how that concern may be justified. The AP Top 25 college football poll preseason rankings are now. Texas took the number one spot for the first time in an opening poll, narrowly edging out Penn State by just five points in the closest preseason vote since 1998.

Tommy Castellanos moved on from Boston College to Florida State for a crack at beating national power Alabama in the season opener. He’s one of several high profile college quarterbacks who used the transfer portal to switch teams before the start of the 2025 season.

First, it was Gehrig Deiter of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022. Then, Don’t’a Hightower left the New England Patriots with his three Super Bowl rings in March of 2023. Mark Ingram traded the NFL for the job of a television commentator in July of that year. Then, this year Julio Jones announced his retirement, following by C.J. Mosley who became the latest in an incomplete list of former Nick Saban players at Alabama who have retired from pro football.

C.J. Mosley is ready to tackle life beyond playing football. A five-time Pro Bowl selection during an 11-year NFL career with the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, Mosley announced Thursday, his 33rd birthday, that he's retiring.

A federal judge just signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions. One answered question is whether the state of Alabama will challenge it.

Trying to fix the offensive line was this off season's top priority for the Tennessee Titans even before quarterback Cam Ward became the No. 1 overall pick. Part of the answer is former Crimson Tide player J.C. Latham.

Former Alabama football star Quinnen Williams and his brother Quincy may need to make room for their younger brother on the roster at the New York Jets. Giovanni Williams is taking part in the rookie camp with the Jets. If he makes it onto the team, it will be the first time in a century that an NFL team has had three brothers playing at the same time.

Former Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was left on the sidelines following round one of the NFL draft. Things went better for two former offensive linemen for the Crimson Tide.