Ty Simpson Flashes His Intelligence During NFL Combine Interviews

The NFL combine rages on as we enter day two of on-field workouts in Indianapolis, Indiana. On Friday, quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers met with the media, with former Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson demanding media attention as the consensus No. 2 quarterback in this year's draft class behind Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. While Mendoza won't throw at the NFL combine, he is in Indianapolis, meeting with teams and media.

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During Simpson's media availability, he was asked about the longest play call he had last season with the Crimson Tide, and Simpson flashed his intelligence by not only recalling the play call but also explaining the motion, the route concepts, and even the placement on the field that led to a Crimson Tide touchdown in Simpson's third career start.

"I hit Germ [Bernard] on the dig route. It was about the 45 to 50-yard line, so it would have been 'eight swag triple left narrow frito tiger y dover z commander staple'," Simpson said. "So, it's a Dover, it's an in cut by Germ, reading it, man, zone. Had the motion to see what the defense was, and it was three weak. So, they spun down to one-high (safety), and Germ ran a good route, Isaiah [Horton] pinned the hook flare, and Germ made a great catch. Lottie [Brooks] did a good job clearing it out, and we scored."

The play in question happened at the 12:15 mark during the second quarter in Alabama's 38-14 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers during the 2025 season.

As noted in the video, Bernard runs a deep in-route, which Alabama used often during the 2025 season, thanks to Bernard's route running and Simpson's pinpoint accuracy over the middle for much of the season. The Wisconsin defender initially on Brooks passes the coverage off as he comes in motion, signifying that the Badgers were in zone coverage. Following the play action to Jam Miller, Isaiah Horton runs a shallow drag route, Lotzeir Brooks runs a go route, and tight end Kaleb Edwards runs a deep crossing route, opening up the middle of the field for Simpson to zip the ball to Bernard. All that was left was for Bernard to break a tackle and race to the endzone.

15 of the 16 invited quarterbacks are expected to throw on Saturday at the NFL combine:

Joey Aguilar, Tennessee
Drew Allar, Penn State
Luke Altmyer, Illinois
Carson Beck, Miami
Jalon Daniels, Kansas
Joe Fagnano, UConn
Taylen Green, Arkansas
Haynes King, Georgia Tech
Cade Klubnik, Clemson
Behren Morton, Texas Tech
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt
Cole Payton, North Dakota State
Sawyer Robertson, Baylor
Ty Simpson, Alabama

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.