One of Alabama's most exciting freshmen, WR Lotzeir Brooks, has been dealing with an injury in fall camp. The promising young receiver has missed the last two days of practice. On Saturday, he was spotted by media members wearing a black, no-contact jersey, wearing a walking boot, and riding the stationary bike. On Sunday, he wasn't spotted during the media viewing period, causing Alabama fans to hold their collective breaths.
After Sunday's practice, however, Kalen DeBoer calmed any rising panic with his update on Brooks. DeBoer stated that the injury was minor and that it wouldn't be anything he's dealing with long-term.
Good news on Lotzeir Brooks.
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) August 3, 2025
"It won't be anything long-term or anything like that," DeBoer said.
Latest on Alabama freshman WR, who's been sidelined the last two days of preseason football camp:
🔗 https://t.co/cOwZ93d8Aa pic.twitter.com/0jvcm0CuEm
You never want to see anyone injured during camp. While the preparation for the season is important, nothing is more important than keeping everyone healthy heading into the season. Nagging injuries are part of football, however, and Brooks won't be the last Tide player to be a little bit banged up.
Even though the injury is minor, Lotzeir Brooks is missing valuable practice reps
For a player looking to break into a crowded WR rotation, Lotzeir Brooks can't afford to miss too much time in fall camp, or getting on the field as a freshman will become more difficult. Brooks was one of the standouts of spring practice, immediately showing he was a much better player than his recruiting ranking indicated. That was no surprise to Alabama's coaching staff or fans, as they had been sounding the horn to anyone who would listen that Brooks was arguably the most underrated player in the 2025 cycle.
Alabama is deep at WR, however, and carving out a role as a freshman was always going to be an uphill battle for the New Jersey native. Alabama has an elite trio of starting WRs in Ryan Williams, Germie Bernard, and Isaiah Horton. Sophomore Rico Scott has emerged as the WR4, and could be pushing to move up the depth chart even further.
That leaves Brooks to compete for the WR5 role, with talented players like Jalen Hale, Cole Adams, Jaylen Mbakwe, and fellow freshman Derek Meadows. Missing any amount of practice time as a freshman who is still learning the system is significant. He's extremely talented, and will likely find some type of role on this team, but he needs all the live reps he can get to become comfortable in the offense and develop a rapport with the quarterbacks.
Hopefully Brooks will be able to get back on the practice field sometime this week.