Keelon Russell is the “prince in waiting.” After serving as the clear No. 2 quarterback during the 2025 season, he now enters the off-season with the best shot yet at locking the QB1 job. He is one of Crimson Tide’s biggest transfer portal wins, and he knows what the standard of the job is. However, while he looked ready to take the next step, Alabama just got some encouraging news on a rookie quarterback. And let’s just say that this guy makes for a huge threat to Keelon Russell.

Keelon Russell practically has a foot between the doors that open up to the QB1 position. He was the clear No. 2 in the 2025 season, and without waiting much, he now gets the best chance at bagging the top spot. Russell knows this is something for the coaches to decide.

The man in question is Jett Thomalla, the elite quarterback, who has a five-star rating from Rivals. Make no mistake, his rapid rise isn’t happening in a vacuum. It adds undue pressure on Keelon Russell, who is expected to take the baton from Ty Simpson as QB1 this year. A former five-star handing things off to another five-star is exactly how elite programs operate. Interestingly enough, they both have similar parallels, too.

Russell became a five-star recruit before he arrived at Tuscaloosa. He also initially intended to go to another program (SMU), just like Thomalla (Iowa State). Meanwhile, Russell came to Alabama after kicking up a storm in his senior season of high school football, throwing for a whopping 3,652 yards. If history is any indication, Thomalla’s trajectory is following a very similar path.

Thomalla arrives from Nebraska as one of the most accomplished quarterback prospects the state has produced in years. During his prep career, he threw for a total of 10,253 passing yards and 134 scores, with a completion rate of 66.5%. Thomalla holds a state record with his passing yardage and touchdown totals. No wonder he is a threat to Russell, who already has to compete with Austin Mack for the starting role. The latter has been waiting for his chance for the past three years.

Back-to-back five-star QB signees by Alabama and Kalen DeBoer 🐘

• 2025 Keelon Russell
• 2026 Jett Thomalla https://t.co/sRcWIc1pa6 https://t.co/TxFpXOKwZP pic.twitter.com/M8QiY1lmgt

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 27, 2026

Russell came in as the No. 2 QB of the 2025 class, unlike Thomalla, who is tabbed as the 7th-best signal caller of the 2026 cycle. Unlike last season, the QB1 race for 2026 will be wide open for Alabama. With Thomalla in the mix, Keelon Russell will have to work hard to swing the competition towards him. In the final Rival300 rankings for 2026, Thomalla climbed up the ladder to emerge as the No. 3 QB of the lot, after Jared Curtis and Keisean Henderson.

“While he played on a loaded team that really didn’t play many close games in 2025, when you watch the arm talent and the ability to make difficult throws, I’m not sure that anyone besides Curtis and Henderson put better difficult throws on film than Thomalla,” Rivals’ Chris Powers wrote in his report of the star QB.

Keelon Russell played in only two games as a freshman and on a limited basis. He hauled in 143 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a completion rate of 73.3%. He clearly has to give his best in trying to prove his worth to be Simpson’s successor. However, he is blocking out all the outside noise as he locks in on the job at hand.

Keelon Russell has no interest in making enemies.

There is still some time for spring camp to begin in Tuscaloosa. But Russell knows the standard of the job he’s fighting for and the level of work he has to put in to be worthy of it. Not only does he have to beat the competition, but he also has to carry forward the success that Ty Simpson established in the program. Despite the huge pressure on his shoulders. Keelon Russell isn’t interested in locking horns with his rivals.

“He doesn’t say he is going to war with Austin Mack,” April Moore, Russell’s mother, told Bama247’s Brett Greenberg on January 13. “He says he is [in] competition with himself at this point. I think the media will pin them against each other, which they always do. His thing is, as good as Austin is, it’s Keelon going against himself… Like, I told him, ‘The game is yours to be played (and) the job is yours to be had if you want it. It doesn’t mean you have to create enemies or this big rivalry.’”

Now, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has always been high in his praise for Russell. But his attention can also be diverted to Jett Thomalla, who has established by this point that he is a phenom. Alabama will have one of the most interesting QB1 battles to keep an eye on until the opener, now that the rookie has a shot to derail the plans of the veteran.