TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football held its second and final scrimmage of fall camp on Thursday, marking one of the biggest days on the Crimson Tide's preseason calendar. With the ongoing quarterback battle between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell nearing its inevitable conclusion, the scrimmage provided the final true game-type scenario for the staff to evaluate the pair.

"We scrimmage literally every day to some extent in practice, moving the ball, playing the situations. and so, today was just more of that," head coach Kalen DeBoer said. "But stepping inside Bryant-Denny, the day is really devoted to a scrimmage. So, what do you got? It is important to perform at your best on a day like today."

The expectation had been correctly established that there would be no starting QB announced until at least the conclusion of the scrimmage. But following the 80-some-odd plays by the first and second teams (DeBoer's estimation), he was still not ready to announce who would take the first snap against East Carolina on Sept. 5.

"They flip so much between ones and twos," DeBoer said. "We can go in with either one of them. I feel very comfortable with that. Obviously, we've got to pick one, and we will pick one. And we'll continue to work through that here in the days ahead."

While each quarterback was picked off in last week's scrimmage, DeBoer announced there was just one turnover this time around, the details of which he did not disclose. Both quarterbacks had faster starts compared to last week and made significant improvements pre-snap.

"When I say pre-snap, it is everyone. But I think a lot of that starts with the quarterback, how he comes in the huddle. They're clean with the command and calls and getting to the line of scrimmage," DeBoer said. "Pre-snap, any checks, I felt like they were on another level than what they were a week ago, which is what you'd expect. We made a note that they've improved drastically on, more than anything, getting us out of bad calls and bad looks. That's a big part of the quarterback's job, other than executing the plays."

With just 16 days until the season opener, the clock is ticking. Logic would dictate that a starter will be named early next week, providing as much time as possible for either player to acclimate to the role.

"We'll work through it here this week and see where we're at," DeBoer said. "Just continue to discuss as a coaching staff."

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