Alabama
Jumbo Package: SEC Media Days schedule, questions for Alabama football
Happy Monday, everyone. With 47 days to kickoff, Creg Stephenson looks back at a 47 yard field goal to upset Tennessee back in 1990.
Rarely has an Alabama football victory been more unlikely than on Oct. 20, 1990.
On that day at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., the Crimson Tide scored a 9-6 win over previously unbeaten Tennessee behind Philip Doyle’s 47-yard field goal as time expired. Alabama entered the game at 2-3 under first-year coach Gene Stallings, and had lost several of its top offensive weapons to injury early in the season.
“The only ones who thought we had a chance to win that football game were in our locker room,” Stallings told reporters afterward, and he was probably close to correct.
Alabama updated its roster with new heights and weights, and two offensive linemen notably went in opposite directions.
No. 71 – IOL Kam Dewberry (6-4, 332) -13
This weight loss had to happen. Dewberry played a little too heavy (335) at Texas A&M, and then reported to Alabama weighing 345 pounds. Now he sits down at 332, which should help his functionality and conditioning. He’s in a heated battle with Geno VanDeMark to take over for Tyler Booker at left guard, but I’d say he’s the favorite right now.
No. 74 – OT Kadyn Proctor (6-7, 366) +6
Easily the most discouraging development in the latest roster update. I wouldn’t say it was unexpected when you consider that Proctor was limited all throughout the spring and wasn’t able to do much, but he was still too heavy at 369 last year before dropping to 360 in the spring. The hope (for me, at least) was to see him get down in the 350-355 range at least. Instead, he’s heading in the opposite direction. Maybe that’ll change before Week 1.
Here’s hoping that Kadyn will be in shape and ready to reach his ceiling in year three. As Stephenson notes, much is expected of him.
3. Who is the SEC’s best offensive lineman?
Answer: Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama
Proctor is technically on his second stint in Tuscaloosa following a brief transfer back home to Iowa during the winter of 2023-24, but he showed last season why he was so highly touted coming out of high school. He’s physical and aggressive, and uses his long arms and mammoth frame to swallow up opposing pass-rushers.
SEC Media Days kick off this week. The first head coach to take the podium will be Lane Kiffin just after lunch, which should start things off in amusing fashion. Per usual, Alabama’s session will be on Wednesday.
Wednesday, July 16
8-11:50 a.m.
Alabama (Kalen DeBoer, Tim Keenan III, Deontae Lawson, Kadyn Proctor)
Mississippi State (Jeff Lebby, Blake Shapen, Isaac Smith, Brenen Thompson)
Noon-3:45 p.m.
Florida (Billy Napier, Caleb Banks, Jake Slaughter, DJ Lagway)
Oklahoma (Brent Venables, John Mateer, Robert Spears-Jennings, R Mason Thomas)
Kalen DeBoer will of course get plenty of questions about the quarterback battle, but the lines of scrimmage and getting back to the standard that Alabama fans have become spoiled to will also be on the table.
It’s not a big leap to think the defense can take an even bigger step forward in 2025. But the pass rush lacked at times in 2024. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack often had to get creative to dial up pressure in his first season running the defense. Alabama finished with 25 sacks, nowhere near the top 10 in college football. Boise State tallied the most with 55. Sacks aren’t everything, but it’s still a stat worth improving for Alabama.
LT Overton figures to be the top pass rusher. He was a season ago. Overton taking the next step in his game (and getting sacks) could go a long way in improving the pass rush. But Alabama will need someone to pair with him so offenses can’t focus on blocking only Overton.
Qua Russaw has the potential to be that guy opposite Overton creating havoc for offenses. Or perhaps, someone else can step up.
Can Kalen DeBoer get Tide in the CFP?
The first-year results under Kalen DeBoer weren’t unexpected, but it was still a disappointment for the Tide faithful. The losses to Oklahoma and Michigan near the end of the season were salt in the wound. Alabama is more talented this season than last. Though many will pay attention to the perceived quarterback battle between Ty Simpson and Austin Mack, the big-picture question is what matters: What happens if DeBoer misses the playoff with one of the nation’s more talented rosters?
This next excerpt is just for your amusement.
4. Georgia: Alabama
The last coach Georgia fans ever wanted to see on the other sideline is doing television. Nick Saban was 5-1 against Kirby Smart, but even with Saban in his first year of retirement last season, Alabama still beat Georgia in a wild 41-34 game in Tuscaloosa the final weekend of September. Georgia has lost nine of the past 10 games in the series and hasn’t beaten Alabama in the regular season since 2007, Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa, when the Mark Richt-coached Bulldogs won 26-23 in overtime. Georgia has vaulted to elite status under Smart, but a second straight loss to DeBoer — especially with this year’s game being played in Athens — wouldn’t sit well with anybody in Athens. — Chris Low
Vanderbilt is listed as Alabama’s. Let’s hope the men are ready for that one.
Last, Deion Sanders made some waves talking about the modern “uniform.”
The head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes wants NFL-style uniform violation fines brought to the college football world. He is particularly bothered by players who wear their pants too short.
“Let’s do something about the uniforms,” Sanders said at Big 12 Media Days. “We’ve got guys in biker shorts. That makes me sick because I’m a football guy — I played this game at a high level and I have so much respect for this game. How can we allow guys out there in biker shorts, no knee pads, no nothing, literally pants up under their thighs, and that’s cool?”
Sanders, who is entering his third year at Colorado, said that officials could enforce the violations by throwing flags at players who don’t wear knee pads. However, he would prefer if players were straight up fined.
Thoughts?
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
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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