For the past two seasons, Alabama football’s offense was centered around one man’s skillset. Jalen Milroe was the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback, and the attack was built around his athleticism.

Now, Milroe is gone to the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, and one of Ty Simpson, Austin Mack or Keelon Russell will be the Tide’s starter. During an appearance on Greg McElroy’s Always College Football podcast, released Monday, DeBoer was asked by the ex-UA starter how the offense would change, given that none of the three competitors plays a similar game to Milroe.

DeBoer didn’t share much detail, but did acknowledge that the attack would be different.

“I think we are more similar of a group as (McElroy) mentioned, I think in your own words, than maybe the diversity of who we had as far as skill sets and how different they were (in 2024) and how you wanted to use it,” DeBoer said. “Jalen, as far as explosiveness, I don’t know if I’ve every seen anything like it with a quarterback who could use his legs, or had that luxury in that fashion. And you have make sure you’re utilizing the skillsets of your players and Jalen certainly had, I always referred to it as a superpower, that we had to make sure we incorporated into our plan.

Simpson is the clubhouse leader for the job after spring practice. He can certainly move around, but isn’t the same athlete Milroe was.

Neither are Mack or Russell. However, DeBoer pointed out that none of them are helpless in the pocket.

“I think all three quarterbacks that we have do have the ability to extend plays. You know that, I’m speaking your language, quarterback, what they’re doing as far as moving the chains,” DeBoer said. “ Using their legs to keep plays alive. And Austin Mack, even as big as he is, once he gets moving, he covers a lot of ground. And Ty was a great duel-threat, and Keelon has the same abilities, to make people miss and probably faster than most people think.”

DeBoer said Alabama would like to choose its next starter a “week-and-a-half” before its Aug. 30 season-opener at Florida State. Simpson was the the frontrunner after spring, having served as UA’s primary backup for the past two years behind Milroe.

Mack was with the Tide last year after following DeBoer from Washington as a transfer, and Russell joined as a five-star true freshman.