5 Alabama football players who raised their stock during spring practice

Spring practice has come and gone, with Alabama wrapping it up with their annual A-Day... event? You can't call it a game anymore, as Saturday was more of an open practice for fans than the organized game that we've grown accustomed to.

It was our last opportunity to see this team before fall camp opens. Alabama's first game of the season is on August 30th against Florida State in Tallahassee. That's four and a half months from now. And what a long four and a half months it will be.

Spring practice brings valuable reps for players, particularly the young and inexperienced of the bunch. With the Tide still nursing a ton of injuries from last season, there were a lot of reps to go around for younger players and quite a few of them took full advantage of it.

Let's examine five players who have seen their stock trending upward following impressive performances throughout spring.

5 Alabama players trending up following spring practice

5. S Ivan Taylor

Alabama's secondary is deep and talented. It won't be easy for a young player to break into the two-deep. At safety, Alabama returns two players with a lot of starting experience in Keon Sabb and Bray Hubbard. Sabb missed the spring as he recovers from the injury he suffered in October of last season that cost him the remainder of the season. Hubbard filled in for him and played extremely well. Hubbard appears to have taken on a leadership role for this team and was one of four players leading Alabama through stretches at the beginning of Saturday's practice.

Rising sophomore Zay Mincey ran with the first-team defense in Sabb's stead, and redshirt freshman Dre Kirkpatrick had a good spring and looks to have positioned himself for playing time. But 4-star freshman Ivan Taylor, the son of former Pittsburgh Steelers DB Ike Taylor, looks to be one of those freshmen that's just too good to keep on the sideline.

Kane Wommack showed a willingness to rotate players in the secondary last season, much more than Crimson Tide fans were used to during the Nick Saban era. Taylor won't start, but he'll likely find himself in the rotation as the season goes along, and is likely to be a valuable special teams contributor immediately.

4. WR Rico Scott

With Ryan Williams being held out for A-Day out of precautionary measures, rising sophomore Rico Scott joined the starting group of receivers alongside Germie Bernard and Isaiah Horton. Scott had an impressive day, hauling in a couple of touchdown receptions and continuing the momentum he built in bowl practice in December.

Scott saw a lot of playing time in the bowl loss to Michigan, thanks to injuries and a massive portal defection from the receivers on last season's roster. He was singled out by Malachi Moore recently as a player who has grown a ton. It's obvious the coaches agree with his insertion into the starting group with Williams sidelined.

3. CB Dijon Lee

It's rare for a freshman to work their way into even the two-deep this early after just a handful of practices. But with Domani Jackson sidelined with an injury, 5-star freshman CB Dijon Lee has made the most of his opportunity and has been the CB most frequently next to Zabien Brown in the starting group throughout the spring. Utah transfer Cam Calhoun as split time, but Lee has been the guy more times than not.

All of the highlight videos from spring practice seemed to feature Lee making a play or two. The 6-foot-4 corner has been a matchup problem for Alabama's wide receivers, which have proven to be a deep and talented group.

Alabama is extremely talented at corner, but Lee has forced himself into early playing time.

2. WR Isaiah Horton

Miami (FL) transfer WR Isaiah Horton had a big spring. He'll be a starter for the Crimson Tide at WR this season alongside Bernard and Williams, giving Alabama a potent trio of starting WRs. Horton had a good season with the Hurricanes a year ago, and with his size, he gives Alabama a dynamic it didn't have a year ago.

Horton made perhaps the play of A-Day on Saturday, going up and hauling in a pass over a couple of defenders on a trick-play that saw Bernard chunk a deep ball in Horton's direction. The pass was severely underthrown, but Horton went up and made a play, then took it the rest of the way into the endzone.

1. WR Lotzeir Brooks

Perhaps the position group that made the biggest jump from last season to this season is at WR. Three guys made this list, and that doesn't include another freshman in Derek Meadows who looked impressive at A-Day.

But the talk of spring practice has been on Brooks. He has made Alabama's talented secondary look silly. He's so quick out of breaks and can go up and make contested catches. He isn't the first Alabama WR to get compared favorably to Jaylen Waddle since Waddle left following the 2020 season, but he's probably the closest we've seen in Tuscaloosa.

Brooks was an incredible evaluation and find by WR coach JaMarcus Shepherd. He might be the most underrated player from the 2025 class - not just at Alabama but perhaps in the entire country.

Brooks is another freshman who is going to force himself onto the field in 2025, regardless of the talent that is in front of him.