Alabama
Alabama Crimson Tide 2024 NFL Draft Tracker
The Alabama football team had many players lead the Crimson Tide to a 12-2 record and an SEC Championship title last season. The season culminated with a loss in the College Football Playoff semifinal and the No. 5 spot in the final AP Top 25.
At least 12 of these leaders are ready for the next chapter of their football careers—the 2024 NFL Draft—from April 25-27. BamaCentral will be tracking where and when the Crimson Tide products are selected right here. Be sure to refresh this page to see the live updates, as the first round kicks off at 7 p.m. CT on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network.
Before the Chicago Bears are officially on the clock with the first-overall pick, here’s a preview for each of the 10 Alabama players who were invited to last month’s NFL Combine:
Edge rusher Dallas Turner was widely expected to be the successor of now-NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson Jr. to start this past season, and he most certainly didn’t disappoint. The SEC Defensive Player of the Year and Consensus All-American finished 2023 second in the conference in tackles for loss (15) and first in sacks (10).
Cornerback Terrion Arnold led Alabama with five interceptions this past season, when he was named a first-team All-America by the Associated Press, and second-team selection by the American Football Coaches Association and The Sporting News. The redshirt sophomore was also named All-SEC by league coaches, and was a second-team pick by media as he led the conference with 16 passes defended.
Offensive tackle JC Latham started two seasons at right tackle for the Crimson Tide, and was named a second team All-American by the Associated Press, the FWAA, The Sporting News, and Walter Camp for his play in 2023. He was selected as a First Team All-SEC player by both the AP and the league’s coaches.
Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry finished second on the team behind Arnold with seven pass breakups. He also totaled 32 tackles this season. His numbers dipped a bit from last season, as opposing quarterbacks didn’t throw toward him as often due to an elite sophomore campaign. Nevertheless, McKinstry was still named an AP All-American.
Edge rusher Chris Braswell finished second on the team and fifth in the conference with eight sacks, and logged 42 tackles, including 10.5 for loss and an SEC-best three forced fumbles. He also blocked a kick and logged a pick-six. Braswell was named to the All-SEC Second Team.
Wide receiver Jermaine Burton led Alabama in touchdowns and receiving yards with 39 catches for 798 yards and eight touchdowns. He had four catches for 21 yards in the season-ending Rose Bowl loss to Michigan.
Edge rusher Justin Eboigbe was on and off of the field in his first four years at Alabama, but he truly broke out this past season. In 2023, he recorded career-highs in every stat category, including 11.5 tackles for loss (10th-best in the SEC) and seven sacks (eighth-best in the conference). He was named to the All-SEC First Team.
Running back Jase McClellan finally stepped into a starting role as a senior in 2023 after multiple injury-riddled seasons, and made the most of it. On 180 carries, McClellan amassed 890 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground, leading the Crimson Tide in both carries and rushing yards.
Safety Jaylen Key transferred to Alabama this past offseason after an extremely successful year at UAB. In 12 games with the Crimson Tide this past season, he recorded 60 tackles and an interception.
Kicker Will Reichard finished his collegiate career as the NCAA’s all-time points leader with 547 thanks to 84 field goals and 295 PATs. He accumulated 121 points in his final season on 22-of-25 field goals and 55 PATs in as many tries.
Other Alabama NFL draft hopefuls who didn’t receive combine invites/participated in pro day.
- Linebacker Trezmen Marshall
- Offensive lineman Darrian Dalcourt
Welcome to BamaCentral’s “Just a Minute,” a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI’s beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.
Watch the above video as BamaCentral baseball beat reporter Theodore Fernandez reflects on the first two months of Alabama baseball’s season and explains why the team has left much to be desired despite success on the field.
At face value, this has been a successful campaign for Alabama baseball. Entering the final four weeks of the regular season, a Crimson Tide team that was projected to finish No. 13 in the SEC is 9-9 in conference play, and just one game out of fourth place. The first sweep of Auburn in more than a decade, the Frisco Classic title, and a road series win over Oklahoma are big-time results that speak to the potential Alabama clearly possesses.
But it continues to appear increasingly likely that this team may not realize that potential.
There are issues up and down the roster. The bulk of the attention has been on Justin Lebron’s struggles. His career-high in errors and underwhelming offensive numbers have led to his draft stock beginning to fall, and it led to him even being experimentally moved out of the two-hole for a game against Arkansas.
Players like Luke Vaughn and Jason Torres have struggled, and there is still a significant amount of regular roster experimentation occurring on a week-to-week basis. Will Plattner, Justin Osterhouse, Chase Kroberger, Andrew Purdy and Peyton Steele are all among the players who have started games over the past two weekends and still appear to have undefined roles.
The biggest question remains the bullpen, as it is nearly impossible to predict what it will provide on any given day. There was a two-weekend stretch where it gave up just five earned runs over 22.1 combined innings against Auburn and Oklahoma, willing Alabama to wins in games where the bats did not show up. Then there have been the lows: implosions against Arkansas and Texas that cast serious doubt on the unit’s ability to show up in big moments.
In all of those areas where the team has struggled, there is hope of a turnaround. There are the bullpen’s aforementioned elite stretches. There are the web-gem plays in short by Lebron, that will leave him with one of the most impressive defensive highlight reels of any player in the nation. There’s Torres responding to a 1-for-12 weekend against the Razorbacks with a two-hit game where he drove in one of Alabama’s two runs to avoid a sweep against Texas last Sunday.
In a sport defined by randomness, where the thinnest of margins can mean the difference between going home in a regional or making a run to Omaha, we simply have no way of knowing where Alabama will land.
Would we really expect it any other way?
That’s baseball.
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A “joyful” 10-year-old Alabama girl was found dead soon after being reported missing — with another juvenile charged with her murder.
Katheryn Bigbee, 10, was reported missing just before 11 p.m. Friday, when police were called to an undisclosed address in Calhoun County, AL.com reported.
“Officers responded immediately to the residence,” Piedmont Police Chief Nathan Johnson said in a statement. “They tragically discovered a deceased juvenile inside the home.”
It remains unclear where the house was, or whether it was the young girl’s family home — but another juvenile was soon taken into custody and hit with murder charges.
Their identity and connection to Bigbee have not been disclosed due to their age.
Bigbee’s cause of death also remains unclear, with police saying the investigation was still ongoing.
“Our family has been torn to pieces, and we have lost the most amazing, sweetest little girl,” relative Blake Trammel wrote on Facebook.
“She was a light in any room she walked into. I cannot express the pain, guilt, and emptiness that has come from all of this. We don’t have answers, only more questions,” he added.
The girl’s school also recalled her as a beloved member of its community.
“Our entire Piedmont Elementary School family is grieving as we remember a sweet little girl who brought smiles, kindness, and a bright light to our halls each day,” the school said in a statement.
“Katheryn had a joyful, spunky personality that made her truly special,” the school said. “She was an enthusiastic reader and will be remembered for the happiness she shared so freely.”
“She will always be a part of our school family, and her memory will live on in the hearts of her classmates, teachers, and all who knew and loved her.”
Alabama AHSAA softball key dates and top teams approaching the 2026 playoffs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Alabama’s AHSAA softball playoffs are just around the corner with three of the state’s top teams ranked in the national Top 15.
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The No. 5 Orange Beach [AL] Makos, No. 10 Thompson [Alabaster, AL] Warriors, and No. 15 Wetumpka [AL] Indians are all ranked in the most recent edition of the MaxPreps Top 50 with the start of Alabama’s postseason less than two weeks away.
Orange Beach was previously ranked No. 1 before losing to the South Warren [Bowling Green, KY] Spartans last week. Both teams were undefeated going into the contest, and the Barbers Hill [Mt. Belvieu, TX] Eagles took the Makos’ place at the top of the rankings following the loss.
WATCH: ALABAMA AHSAA SOFTBALL ON THE NFHS NETWORK
Key dates for the Alabama AHSAA softball playoffs
|
DATE |
PLAYOFF DEADLINES |
|
5/1-5/26 |
Area Tournaments |
|
5/11-14/26 |
Regional Tournaments |
|
5/18-22/26 |
State Tournaments |
National Top 50 contenders by classification
Alabama’s three nationally-ranked teams all compete in different classifications.
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Class 7A
The Thompson Warriors are 34-1-2, and they compete in the AHSAA’s top-level Class 7A ranks. The team’s only loss is to the No. 15 Wetumpka Indians in a 3-2 setback on April 3.
Class 6A
Wetumpka is 34-5, and as noted above, they are the only team to beat Thompson so far.
Class 4A
Orange Beach is the state’s top-ranked team despite competing at the AHSAA’s Class 4A level. Their loss to South Warren of Kentucky in a 6-1 setback on April 9 ended a 45-game win streak at the time. The Makos had only allowed 25 runs all season prior to the relative outburst by the Spartans.
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