Alabama’s quarterback room is loaded enough to make any preseason list look shaky, yet CBS Sports managed to leave the Crimson Tide out of its top 10 QB rooms this week.
That’s the kind of omission that turns heads fast, especially with Kalen DeBoer’s group still giving the program plenty to like heading into 2026. Alabama still doesn’t have a locked-in starter, but the competition is very much alive between redshirt freshman Keelon Russell and redshirt junior Austin Mack. Russell has been the name getting the most buzz and is widely viewed as the favorite, but Mack is still firmly in the mix and will battle him through fall camp.
What makes this room so dangerous is the sheer talent stacked across it. Russell already has dark-horse Heisman Trophy chatter around him, and Mack brings his own pedigree to the table as a 4-star recruit and Top 100 overall player. Then there’s 5-star true freshman Jett Thomalla, who gives Alabama a depth piece most programs can only dream about.
Blake Brockermeyer’s CBS ranking ran from Oregon at No. 1 through Notre Dame at No. 10, with Texas, Utah, Ole Miss, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Miami and Houston filling out the list. Alabama never appeared.
No explanation was offered for the snub, but the logic seems to lean toward rooms built around a proven starter. That may make sense if the conversation is about the most established quarterback, but it’s a different discussion when you’re judging the entire room. Utah’s Devon Dampier may be more proven than Mack or Russell, but calling Utah a better quarterback room top to bottom than Alabama stretches credibility.
The bigger point is that Alabama’s quarterback situation looks stronger than the ranking suggests. If Russell wins the job, the ceiling is obvious.
If Mack wins it, the same applies. And whichever one comes out on top, the other could end up as one of the best backups in the country, with Thomalla waiting behind them as an elite third option.
Alabama has its share of questions entering 2026, but quarterback isn’t one of them. DeBoer has built a room with high-end talent, real competition and depth that most programs simply can’t match.
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