Alabama lands SEC OT, 21-game starter, in major late portal win for Kalen DeBoer

Kalen DeBoer and Alabama scored a major win in the Transfer Portal with an experienced SEC offensive tackle.

John Mitchell

Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Transfer Portal may be winding down, but Kalen DeBoer and Alabama are still working. And they just landed a major piece to the puzzle.

Mississippi State starting LT Jayvin James, who entered the portal at the last minute, committed to the Crimson Tide. James has started 21 games in his career. He spent his first two seasons at Akron, starting nine games as a redshirt freshman in 2024 before transferring to Mississippi State in 2025, where he made 12 starts for the Bulldogs.

BREAKING: Mississippi State transfer OT Jayvin James has Committed to Alabama, he tells @On3

The 6’5 320 OT has made 21 starts in his career

He’ll have 2 years of eligibility lefthttps://t.co/RlUbB6EMhS pic.twitter.com/L6rtZkhMHA
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) January 21, 2026

James will inject some much-needed experience on a young but talented Crimson Tide offensive line in 2026.

Alabama lands Mississippi State's Jayvin James in the Transfer Portal

James becomes the sixth addition on the offensive line in the Transfer Portal for Alabama. It is a total overhaul up front for DeBoer as the Crimson Tide will look to take a major step forward on the OL after back-to-back disappointing seasons from that unit.

Along with five additions in the 2026 recruiting class, Alabama now has 11 new offensive linemen in the room, with five returning from a year ago.

James will be one of the veterans of the group. The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder will be a redshirt junior in 2026. He'll have far and away the most experience in Alabama's young offensive line room.

James likely becomes the immediate favorite to start at left tackle for the Crimson Tide in 2026, though his addition gives Alabama even more versatility to mix and match up front. The staff is high on redshirt freshman Jackson Lloyd, and perhaps they could talk Michael Carroll into shifting to guard next season, though he seems to want to stay at RT.

James joins an Alabama Transfer Portal class that already landed the following players on the offensive line:

Kaden Strayhorn (Michigan)
Ty Haywood (Michigan)
Racin Delgatty (Cal Poly)
Nick Brooks (Texas)
Ethan Fields (Ole Miss)

He's the 18th scholarship addition to the portal for Alabama in this cycle.

You can follow along with all of Alabama's Transfer Portal activity by following this link.

John Mitchell

John is the Site Expert at Bama Hammer and Ball Durham. He has written for a variety of online platforms since 2007, with bylines at sites such as Saturday Blitz, Busting Brackets, Glory Colorado, Soaring to Glory, and others. He has also previously covered Alabama high school athletics for East Alabama Sports Today. In his free time, he's an avid movie lover, and if you disagree with his takes, well, that's just like, your opinion, man.