Alabama Crimson Tide fans are almost tunnel-vision focused on Nick Saban’s replacements for Pete Golding and Bill O’Brien. Decisions could be made any day, but with the Crimson Tide in full recruiting swing, Nick Saban might not see a need to accelerate the hiring pace. If so, it might be February before Alabama Football has two new Coordinators.
Meanwhile, the deadline for NFL Early Entry passed without any surprises. The Crimson Tide is always over the roster limit at this point of the offseason and Nick Saban could choose to add more transfers as the offseason progresses.
The Transfer Portal will close at midnight on Jan. 18. The deadline is for Portal entry only. Players in the Portal can join another team anytime over the next several months. Another Portal entry window opens for two weeks in May.
Alabama’s latest player to announce a transfer is Demouy Kennedy. The linebacker suffered a season-ending injury in the Arkansas game and is choosing to continue his career elsewhere.
Fans might note that it can take a day or two after the Portal closes for all the latest transferring players to be processed.
Alabama Football Good News
Good football news (I think) comes from a second tweet by Justin Eboigbe. The young man appears to indicate he will be able to return to football. A neck injury prior to the Arkansas game took Eboigbe out for the season and there was concern he might not be able to play again. If he does return, he will be a key player on the 2023 defensive line.
Alabama Football Recruiting Update
A final player ranking for the 2023 class was published by On3 on Tuesday. After the ranking adjustment, Alabama has six of the top 20 players in the 2023 class. Two players in the top 20 have not signed, so the Crimson Tide has one-third of the signed, top 20 players (6-of-18) in the 2023 class. Five of them are defensive players.
Further proof of Alabama Football dominance in the 2023 class comes from the 247Sports Composite. With the updated On3 rankings added to the 247 Composite, the Crimson Tide now has eight, 5-Stars in its 2023 class.
Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball
After a tragic loss of life to a young mother, thoughts of basketball dimmed.
Coping with shock and sadness, Nate Oats’ team traveled to Nashville for a Tuesday night game against Vanderbilt. Alabama prevailed to stay undefeated in SEC play.
In other Tuesday night SEC action, Ole Miss beat South Carolina, 70-58; Tennessee beat Mississippi State, 70-59 and Kentucky beat Georgia, 85-71.