Alabama
Backstroke and IMer Georgia Wimberly Commits To Alabama For Fall 2026
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Georgia Wimberly from Prosper, Texas has announced her commitment to continue her academic and athletic careers at Alabama beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.
“I am extremely excited and humbled to announce my verbal commitment to further my academic and athletic career at The University of Alabama. I would like to thank my family, coaches, and teammates for endlessly supporting me throughout my career. I would also like to thank the Alabama coaching staff for giving me this opportunity. Most of all, I would like to thank God for guiding me throughout this whole journey. The best is yet to come!! ROLL TIDE”
Wimberly swims for Lakeside Aquatic Club and is in her junior year at Prosper High School. She has already posted numerous best times this fall. She swam a best time in the 200 breast with a 2:21.92 as well as a 4:23.78 in the 400 IM. She also was just off her best time in her best event, the 200 back as she swam a 2:00.09. Her best time in the event is a 1:59.02 that she swam in December 2023. Georgia is the younger sister to Jacob Wimberly. Jacob is currently a freshman at Texas A&M.
Wimberly’s best SCY times are:
- 200 back: 1:59.02
- 200 free: 1:51.88
- 500 free: 4:58.36
- 400 IM: 4:23.78
The Alabama women finished 6th out of 12 teams at the 2024 SEC Championships. The team was led by Avery Wiseman who captured silver in the 100 breast in a 58.08.
The team is notably thin in the 200 backstroke as they only had two swimmers and one finalist in the event at 2024 SECs. Ella Menear led the way with a 14th place finish in a 1:54.84. The team also only had two swimmers and one finalist in the 400 IM as Sydney Sanders was 6th in a 4:12.66.
Georgia will arrive at Alabama in fall 2026 as a member of the class of 2030 along with Addison Sala (IM/back), Ava Grazziani (mid-distance free/back), and Alyse Block (sprint free). Sala has best times of 1:59.68 in the 200 back and 4:18.80 in the 400 IM while Grazziani has best times of 1:58.04 in the 200 back and 1:48.67 in the 200 free.
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PENSACOLA, Fla. — A bipartisan bill is making its way through Washington that would preserve and possibly restore a famous piece of naval aviation history.
The F-14 Tomcat was in service with the Navy for more than 30 years and was famously used in the original “Top Gun” movie.
But when the aircraft retired in 2005, the U.S. government destroyed a majority of the airplanes that were here in the U.S. This made the prospects of the jet returning to the skies next to impossible.
The “Maverick Act” hopes to bring a jet that inspired a generation back to life.
“The Maverick Act got a lot of support,” “It passed the Senate unanimously. It now heads to Congress for a final vote.”
Pensacola Navy veteran Dan McCort can still feel the raw power the F-14 Tomcat brought to naval aviation.
“It was a blast to fly. I gotta tell you I got it,” McCort said. “I love the airplane. I love the missions because it came with a huge mission set.”
The only country in the world flying the jet was Iran. The jets were given to Iran in 1979. But when the government was overthrown, the jets fell into the hands of an anti-American government.
Because of that, when the jet retired in 2006, the U.S. ordered most of the aircraft and its parts be destroyed.
During Operation Epic Fury, American and Israeli pilots destroyed Iran’s entire Air Force, including all the remaining flyable F-14s.
“We had to take them out, but boy that was hard for me to watch,” McCort said.
A bill dubbed the “Maverick Act” was introduced through a bipartisan effort. The legislation would preserve and restore three F-14s sitting in our nation’s boneyard.
“That airplane inspired an entire nation, partly because of the movie, partly because of the times it was hard Cold War, and it represented frankly American air power,” said McCort.
“A fantastic piece of equipment that served our country well,” Congressman Jimmy Patronis said. “But I can’t help but poke fun at it simply because of what Tom Cruise has done with the most recent ‘Top Gun’ movies.”
The bill calls for the Navy to donate the Tomcats to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where they will be restored. If there’s enough spare parts, the bill calls for one of them to be restored to flight status to be flown at airshows across the country.
All of this would be funded by private donors, and not American taxpayers.
“If there’s no taxpayer dollars being used to restore these things then put it on the table,” said Patronis.
McCort says restoring the airplane will cost millions of dollars.
“A foundation that could generate some donations to defer the costs of making this thing fly because it will not be inexpensive,” said McCort. “I believe we’ll pay dividends down the road, both for the museum as well as a recruiting opportunity… as well as a recruiting opportunity for the country in general, and for the Navy frankly.”
Alabama football’s first game of the 2026 season has a kickoff time.
Alabama vs. East Carolina will be at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, Sept. 5 from Bryant-Denny Stadium on ABC. The game will be a part of an SEC tripleheader on the network, along with Baylor vs. Auburn (2:30 p.m. CT) and LSU vs. Clemson (6:30 p.m. CT).
East Carolina is one of three nonconference games for Alabama in 2026, along with Florida State on Sept. 19 and Chattanooga on Nov. 21.
Here’s a look at Alabama’s full 2026 schedule:
- Sept. 5: Alabama vs East Carolina; 11 a.m., ABC
- Sept. 12: Alabama at Kentucky
- Sept. 19: Alabama vs. Florida State
- Sept. 26: Alabama vs. South Carolina
- Oct. 3: Alabama at Mississippi State
- Oct. 10: Alabama vs. Georgia
- Oct. 17: Alabama at Tennessee
- Oct. 24: Alabama vs. Texas A&M
- Nov. 7: Alabama at LSU
- Nov. 14: Alabama at Vanderbilt
- Nov. 21: Alabama vs. Chattanooga
- Nov. 28: Alabama vs. Auburn
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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