Alabama struck out on the Transfer Portal running back market when Hollywood Smothers spurned the Tide for Texas. Now, Kalen DeBoer is doing what he can to salvage a running back room that is full of question marks heading into 2026. That includes bringing a former in-state recruit who left for Tennessee to campus for a weekend visit.
Touchdown Alabama confirmed that former Tennessee and Appalachian State running back Khalifa Keith will be in Tuscaloosa for an official visit over the weekend. The 6-foot-1, Birmingham native was a three-star recruit in the 2023 class before spending two years in Knoxville and last season in Boone.
NEW: Former Tennessee/Appalachian State RB Khalifa Keith will take a visit to Alabama starting on Saturday morning, he tells me for @Bama_247
— Brett Greenberg (@BrettGreenberg_) January 31, 2026
6-foot-1, 235 pounder is a Birmingham (Ala.) native with one year of eligibility remaining.
MORE: https://t.co/cXc1Lqj28A pic.twitter.com/KL66drNPu3
Alabama hosting former in-state 3-star Khalifa Keith on weekend visit
Not the most highly-touted recruit, Keith was the 42nd-ranked running back in the 2023 class when he chose the Volunteers over Kentucky and Georgia Tech. He took an unofficial visit to Alabama in 2022, early in his recruiting.
Through his three years of college football, Keith has just 34 carries for 129 yards and a touchdown. Only three of those attempts and eight of those yards came for App State in 2025, which forced the Parker High School product back into the Transfer Portal.
The window to enter the portal closed on January 16, but players who entered by that date are still free to commit outside of the window. Keith has not found a home since entering the portal, and Alabama would be a surprising one considering his lack of production.
DeBoer and general manager Courtney Morgan are still looking to add to the running back room, which is likely to feature five-star freshman EJ Crowell prominently in 2026. After finishing outside the top 130 in the FBS in rushing success rate last season, Richard Young transferred to Colorado, Jam Miller exhausted his eligibility and left for the NFL, and Smother chose Texas over Alabama. That all has left the Tide in a precarious position, foisting major responsibility on a true freshman.
Keith, if he does sign with Alabama, will not become the bellcow from Day 1 or likely, at any point during his time in Tuscaloosa. However, he would be another body to add to a thin running back room, and with his size at 235 pounds, could feature as a short-yardage back.
Keith won’t solve Alabama’s run-game issues, but throwing another dart at the dart board is never a bad idea.