As Alabama prepares to make a run in the College Football Playoff, the team's fate will be determined in part by quarterback Ty Simpson.
The Crimson Tide signal caller has had a solid first year as a starter, but he didn't close the season on a sharp note. However, there may be a reason for Simpson's drop in play, as rumors have swirled that the Alabama quarterback is playing through an injury.
If Alabama goes deep in the Playoff, it will be because Simpson returned to his level of play from earlier in the season. That's especially the case against a stifling Oklahoma defense, which gave the Crimson Tide issues in November.
Here's the latest on Simpson's health entering the CFP.
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Is Ty Simpson playing hurt?
Amid rumors that Ty Simpson is hurt, the Alabama quarterback said he isn't dealing with any specific injury ahead of the College Football Playoff.
"I'm great," Simpson said, via AL.com. "I'm excited. It's a great opportunity to play in the College Football Playoff. At this point in the season, I don't know a team who is healthy at all, so fire me up. I'm ready to go."
Simpson did acknowledge he got hit hard down the stretch of the regular season, but he said that's the case for everyone left in the Playoff.
"Everybody is getting hit," Simpson said. "Everybody is sore in some type of way."
Ahead of Friday night's game between Alabama and Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide did not list Simpson on their injury report.
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What happened to Ty Simpson?
Ty Simpson has played the entire season as Alabama's starting quarterback, and thus far has not suffered an injury serious enough to keep him out of the game. That isn't to say he isn't dealing with general soreness from the season, but Alabama doesn't list Simpson as part of the injury report leading up to the game against the Sooners.
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Ty Simpson stats before and after
It's unclear exactly where Simpson suffered an injury, but he has clearly not kept up his level of production from the beginning of the season. Specifically, Simpson has struggled in the three games since Alabama's loss to Oklahoma on Nov. 15.
| First 10 games | Last 3 games | |
| Completion percentage | 66.8% | 54.4% |
| Yards per game | 278.7 | 160.3 |
| Yards per attempts | 8.2 | 5.3 |
| Touchdowns | 22 | 4 |
| Interceptions | 2 | 3 |
At one point, Simpson was on pace to be a potential Heisman Trophy contender, but the quarterback couldn't keep that pace up through the end of the season.