Alabama Crimson Tide news and notes from Monday and Tuesday, May 4th and 5th.
Patrick Murphy, Jocelyn Briski earn top SEC honors from USA Today
Alabama softball head coach Patrick Murphy and junior ace Jocelyn Briski earned major SEC awards on Tuesday.
Murphy was named the SEC's Coach of the Year by USA Today after leading Alabama to a 47-6 regular season record and a second-place finish in the SEC standings. It was the best regular-season performance for the Crimson Tide in five years, silencing the doubters who wondered if Murphy could get Alabama back into contention.
A big reason why he did was Briski, who was named the SEC's Pitcher of the Year by USA Today. Briski made 28 appearances for Alabama in 2026, putting up an absurd 20-2 record with a 1.46 ERA. She struck out 167 batters across 129.2 innings pitched in the regular season. Her 9.82 strikeout to walk ratio ranked 2nd nationally and was more than double the second-highest ratio in the SEC. This award was an easy choice.
Alabama baseball suffers another disappointing mid-week loss
With hosting still a possibility for the NCAA Tournament, you would hope Alabama would be playing with a sense of urgency as the season winds down. Coming off a sweep of Vanderbilt over the weekend that built some momentum, the Crimson Tide gave it all back with a disheartening performance at Troy on Tuesday night.
Alabama fell to the Trojans 6-1, managing just a measly four hits. The one run came off a Jason Torres solo home run in the 2nd inning. JT Blackwood gave Alabama a quality start, but the bullpen couldn't hold the lead, allowing three runs each in the 7th and 8th innings.
Rob Vaughn's club will look to shake off this performance as they head to Columbia this weekend for their penultimate SEC series against South Carolina.
Kalen DeBoer still has big plans for 5-star freshman RB EJ Crowell despite spring injury
An injury this spring kept 5-star freshman EJ Crowell sidelined for the bulk of practices, but that hasn't changed the big plans for him that Kalen DeBoer has in 2026. Crowell is still a major part of the plan for the Crimson Tide to fix its dormant running game.
“When he’s healthy, he’s got to get incorporated full-fledged with some urgency with as much as he can handle, and be a part of a running back corps, and go compete for that playing time to help us be at our best,” DeBoer said, via Colin Gay of the Tuscaloosa News.
Without making a splash in the Transfer Portal, Alabama will be relying on organic growth from returnees like Daniel Hill, Kevin Riley, and AK Dear, along with contributions immediately from freshmen in Crowell and Trae'shawn Brown.
Kane Wommack is excited about Alabama's defense in 2026
Speaking this week at a charity golf tournament, Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack had some eye-opening comments about his defense.
It's clear from the comments he's made and some made previously by DeBoer that Alabama is high on its Transfer Portal additions along the defensive line. They wanted to get bigger and more physical up front, and it appears they've accomplished that mission.
“The transfer portal’s been really good to us, so having some of those guys in, coupled with our back end, I think there’s a lot of continuity," Wommack said. There’s a lot of excitement within the group and confidence in each other. And so, it’s fun to kind of go through spring with that group of guys that know the expectations and kind of set the tone early and often.”
With an offense with a lot of new faces, a veteran defense may have to carry the Crimson Tide early in the season. It appears Wommack has a unit capable of doing so at all three levels.
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