Ty Simpson doesn’t know where he’ll be playing football next season. The former Alabama star is projected to be the second quarterback chosen — behind Indiana QB and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza — when the 2026 NFL Draft kicks off Thursday from Pittsburgh.

Soon, Simpson will have a new city he’ll call home, a new playbook to study, and a new coaching staff to begin learning under.

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What he’s 100% sure of, however, is his salvation through his faith in Jesus Christ.

“I know where I’m going,” he said in December on “The Walk” podcast. “I have full confidence knowing where I’m going. That’s how I see it. We’re His children and we’re here to spread His Word because of what He did. But at the same time, if the Lord Jesus comes back tomorrow, like in Revelation and the earth dissolves like that, I know what’s going to happen.

“The question is, do you?”

After starring at Westview High School in Martin, Tennessee — where he led his team to Class 2A state championship his senior year — he signed with Alabama as a five-star recruit. Despite being a highly touted prospect in 2022, he served primarily as a backup until earning the starting job as a junior this past season.

A second-team All-SEC selection, he started 15 games and threw for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He led Alabama to a College Football Playoff berth, where it lost in the quarterfinals to eventual national-champion Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

Sitting the bench and not playing regularly was admittedly difficult for him, Simpson said. His identity had become wrapped up in his football performance and success.

“It just got no fun,” he said an interview with CBN Sports. “I just dreaded coming into the building every day, going to practice, going to meetings, because it just wasn’t very fun to me. I saw myself as a certain type of figure, and that was just football.”

He remembers a scrimmage going poorly, and when he got back to his apartment, his father, Jason, was there. Ty began tearing up and getting emotional. Jason has been the head football coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin since 2006, so he’s a resource for Ty when the young QB needs to discuss football. But his father is also a major source of encouragement in his walk with God.

Jason sends Ty scriptures over text messages each morning, and that day in the apartment Jason challenged his son about his faith — whether he was in the Word, involved in a local church, and praying regularly to seek guidance from God.

“It really kind of opened my eyes because I was like, ‘No, I’m not,'” Ty told CBN Sports. “I was more focused on how people saw me as a football player and how people perceived me as an athlete instead of how people saw me as a Christian and a person. I was living a type of way that I knew was wrong, but it was the one that I wanted to do.”

Jason has been there from the beginning of both Ty’s football career as well as his faith journey. Ty remembers being 7 or 8 years old sitting in a pew at church asking his father questions about the Christian faith. He asked what it meant to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Jason, who served as a deacon at the church, led him through the basics of what it meant to be a Christian, and how accepting Jesus as his Savior would secure eternal life in Heaven.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Ty told “The Walk” podcast. “Throwing a touchdown pass, getting married, none of that really matters compared to giving your life to Christ.

“I remember that pew that day. I tugged my dad’s khakis and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to go up and talk to my pastor.’ We went up to talk to the pastor, took the steps forward, got saved and baptized later in the next couple of weeks. I remember it like it was yesterday just because it was a big step in my life and means a lot to me and that’s kind of how I am the person [that I am] today because of that.”

.@ty_simpson06 is ready to do whatever it takes to get his team the W 😎

2026 NFL Draft – April 23-25 on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/7wl7WxQBJl

— NFL (@NFL) April 9, 2026

That conversation with his dad in his apartment had a similar effect, but this time he was much older and more mature with an even better understanding of what his dad was saying. Later that night, Ty rededicated his life to the Lord.

“I kind of just sat back and prayed,” he told CBN Sports. “It was just a big sigh of relief off my shoulders — no anxiety, just felt free, honestly.”

That spiritual freedom allowed Simpson to play more free on the field with more peace in his heart and mind. His favorite verse is Micah 5:5, which says, “And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses. We will raise against them seven shepherds, even eight commanders.”

Simpson’s faith has allowed him to have peace in big games in front of large crowds, which won’t change as he moves on to the NFL.

“It just gave me a different perspective of, like, ‘Why would I be upset over how people look at me or how I played when knowing there’s such a bigger purpose?’ There’s a reason why I’m playing this game,” he told CBN Sports. “It’s not just because I’m good and whatever. There’s a reason why it’s working out the way it’s working out, and it’s not up to me.”

That reason?

“To use my platform to give the glory to the Lord,” he told CBN Sports. “We say this all the time — I want people to see me more as a Christian than as a football player.”

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

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