Alabama Crimson Tide news and notes from Wednesday and Thursday, August 12th and 13th.
Alabama's first scrimmage of fall camp brings bad news in the RB room
While the QB battle between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell has brought the most intrigue to fall camp, fixing the porous ground game from last season is priority number one for the Alabama offense in 2026. A large chunk of that is improvement on the offensive line, but the running backs have to be better, too.
Two of the biggest reasons for optimism are both banged up.
Kalen DeBoer noted after the scrimmage that 5-star freshman EJ Crowell was held out of the scrimmage and would miss a few upcoming practices with an undisclosed issue. He made sure to note that Crowell wasn't expected to miss any game time, but remember that the elite freshman missed almost all of spring practice already with an injury. He's missed a lot of valuable reps already and is about to miss more.
The bigger news in the RB room was the injury to AK Dear. The rising sophomore was helped to the locker room with an ankle injury at some point during the scrimmage. The extent of the injury isn't yet known, and Dear will be further evaluated in the coming days.
Kalen DeBoer may have dropped a significant hint in the QB competition
DeBoer was obviously asked about the QB competition in his post-scrimmage press conference. He stated that he "didn't feel closer" to answering the question at quarterback based on what he saw from the first scrimmage. To me, that gives further credence to the multiple reports of Russell outperforming Mack once again.
A year ago, the first scrimmage was the decider in the QB competition. Just a few days after the scrimmage, Alabama named Ty Simpson the starter. You would think that if Mack was going to win the job, he would be pulling away by now. The longer the competition drags on, the better chance Russell has of coming out on top.
Mack is not out of the competition yet by any means, but it does feel like Russell's job to lose right now.
A few other notes from Alabama's first fall camp scrimmage
- Sophomore LB Luke Metz continues to impress and should probably be viewed as the favorite to win the "Sting" LB job alongside Caleb Woodson at Mike.
- At this point, it would be an upset if Alabama's starting offensive line in Week 1 wasn't the following (from L-R): Jackson Lloyd, Mal Waldrep, Racin Delgatty, Michael Carroll, and Jayvin James.
- Alabama's defensive back room might be the deepest in college football. Despite that, youngsters like Ivan Taylor, Chuck McDonald, and Jireh Edwards were all getting significant reps with the first team during the scrimmage.
- Alabama's defensive line might be legit. They've been impressive through fall camp and could be a significant strength for the 2026 Crimson Tide. If that's the case, then Kane Wommack may field the nation's best defense this season.
Terrion Arnold plans to sign with the Seattle Seahawks
Former Alabama CB Terrion Arnold is still facing serious charges from his alleged role in a robbery/kidnapping, but he appears set for a second chance in the NFL. Six weeks after being released by the Detroit Lions, reports broke on Thursday that Arnold was expected to sign with the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks:
ESPN sources: former Lions CB Terrion Arnold plans to sign with the Seattle Seahawks. Arnold also had visited the Texans, Saints and Giants.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 13, 2026
Next the NFL must decide whether to put Arnold on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after he was arrested on felony charges in connection… pic.twitter.com/bVTooM8r6L
As Schefter notes, it remains to be seen whether the NFL will allow Arnold to play or not. But Seattle did their due diligence, and now Arnold can reunite with college teammate and close friend Jalen Milroe.
Alabama soccer tops Saint Louis in season opener
The 2026 Alabama soccer season got started on Wednesday night and the Crimson Tide came out with a 2-1 win over Saint Louis to kick off the year.
Alabama took an early 1-0 lead on a Ashley Roni goal in the eighth minute. The Tide held the lead for the majority of the match, but Saint Louis evened the score 1-1 in the 83rd minute on a penalty kick.
Five minutes later, the Crimson Tide had its opportunity for a PK thanks to a Saint Louis handball. Larkin Thomaon put the penalty into the back of the net to give Alabama the 2-1 win.
Wes Hart and his team head to Memphis on Saturday to take on the No. 21 Tigers at 7pm CT.
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