There was concern heading into the 2024 season that Alabama football lacked quality depth and experience in the defensive backfield. Alabama had to replace both of its starting corners - Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry - who left school early for the NFL Draft, and then star safety Caleb Downs' decision to transfer following Nick Saban's retirment was a big blow.
Alabama had to rely on a transfer CB from USC in Domani Jackson, a plethora of freshman corners led by Zabien Brown, a career-backup in DeVonta Smith, and Michigan transfer safety Keon Sabb. Bringing Malachi Moore back for a fifth season helped, but there was plenty of reason for pessimism heading into last season.
And certainly there were growing pains, like Alabama's inability to get off the field on 4th down against Georgia and Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia lighting the team up the very next week. But all-in-all, it's hard not to call last season's secondary play a rousing success.
Jackson was an immediate star, and his decision to return for his senior season in Tuscaloosa helped to solidify what should be one of the nation's best defenses in 2025. Alabama got stellar play from the freshman Brown, who made the game-sealing interception against Georgia. Young players like Jaylen Mbakwe and Zay Mincey saw time at corner and held up, too.
Moore was Moore at safety and Keon Sabb was excellent until a season-ending injury against Tennessee. Bray Hubbard stepped in and played at perhaps an even higher level than Sabb. Injuries to both Smith and freshman Red Morgan opened the door for Wake Forest transfer DaShawn Jones at Husky, and he flashed a lot of potential that leads to tremendous optimism for him next season.
Alabama must replace Moore and Smith transferred to Notre Dame, but there's a ton of returning talent for DBs coach Maurice Linguist to work with. Linguist was the corners coach last season, but Kalen DeBoer let go safeties coach Colin Hitschler so now Linguist will coach the entire DB room.
Alabama's defensive back room is loaded with talent
At corner, both Jackson and Brown are returning starters. Alabama added Utah transfer Cam Calhoun in the Transfer Portal and he'll provide a high-end third option and vie for playing time in nickel and dime packages for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama signed two highly regarded corners in the 2025 class, adding 5-star Dijon Lee and 4-star Chuck McDonald out of California. At least one of them will likely see a decent bit of snaps in their freshman season to add some depth. Lee is a good bet to be that guy.
At Husky - essentially the nickel corner but more of a corner/safety hybrid - Jones figures to have the inside track at the starting job. But rising sophomore Red Morgan is a player the staff has a lot of confidence in and he played a lot as a freshman. It wouldn't be a shock to see Calhoun get a look there, either.
At safety, replacing Moore will not be an easy task, but the development Hubbard got thanks to Sabb's injury gives Alabama two talented and experienced options at safety. Odds are good that those are your two starters next season.
But there's two other players who will be pushing for one of the jobs. Rising sophomore Zay Mincey started his Alabama career as a corner, but made the switch to safety and was outstanding in bowl practices. He started in place of the injured Moore in the ReliaQuest Bowl and played well, though Michigan was not much of a vertical threat.
Mincey could get a look at Husky as well and with his corner experience he could be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades in the defensive backfield for the Crimson Tide. Mbakwe is the biggest wildcard at corner. Is he strictly going to play WR next season or will he split time and play both ways? We'll find out a lot this spring.
Freshman Ivan Taylor - the son of former Steelers DB Ike Taylor - has drawn rave reviews in Tuscaloosa already. He'll be one to keep an eye on this spring as he pushes for immediate playing time.
Redshirt freshman Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. and junior Kameron Howard should provide some quality depth in the safety room.
On paper this is an extremely talented group of defensive backs that could stack up with any other team in the country. Alabama's defense as a whole is oozing with talent and if some young players can step up on the defensive line to add quality depth up-front, then the Crimson Tide might field the best defense in the country next season.