TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — This might be the best endorsement Keelon Russell could get in his case to be Alabama’s next starting quarterback:
“Literally, it just feels like you’re playing a video game when he is in,” standout receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams said.
Russell was the star of Alabama’s spring game Saturday. He completed 21 of 33 passes for 240 yards, with four touchdowns and an interception. Although the Crimson Tide didn’t keep official stats, Russell led his unit to seven scores on nine drives — four TDs, three field goals, a missed field goal and an interception near the goal line.
He also extended several plays with his legs despite wearing a noncontact jersey.
“You never know what you’re going to get it,” Coleman-Williams added. “Just be there, be in the moment.”
Alabama got an extended look at Russell, a five-star recruit in 2025 who redshirted while sitting behind starter Ty Simpson and backup Austin Mack last season. Simpson is expected to be a first-round pick in next week’s NFL draft, and Mack was slowed by an undisclosed injury.
Mack completed 6 of 12 passes for 101 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. He led five drives, scoring on two of them, before leaving the game.
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer later revealed that Mack was “dinged up,” although the injury is not considered a long-term issue.
Mack served as Alabama’s second-string quarterback last year, completing 24 of 32 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
“We just had to limit Austin just with some stuff,” DeBoer said. “This week was a little bit where Keelon got some more reps just with some things Austin is going through. Austin has been good for the most part but wasn’t able to finish (on Saturday). But he will be fine.”
Russell seemed more than fine in the spotlight.
After completing 11 of 15 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns in two games last season, he has taken developmental steps in his second season. Alabama still has two spring practices remaining this week — no one expects DeBoer to announce a Week 1 starter anytime soon — but Russell will enter summer workouts with momentum.
“He had confidence coming in,” Coleman-Williams said. “But you sit a year behind a very good quarterback and learn from him, and he’s taking all those intangibles and just putting them in his game.
“His freshman year, he’d get into the huddle, and he knew what he was talking about, but it’s a lot as a quarterback. So just the way he’s commanded and grown from last year to this year, it’s light years.”
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