Alabama and South Carolina are set to meet on Saturday in a game between programs moving in vastly different directions. Still, if there’s going to be a turnaround story for the Gamecocks, the injury report will loom large.

South Carolina has lost two straight and four of its last five, with the lone win in that span coming against Kentucky. Alabama, meanwhile, has won six straight after dropping its season opener, including four straight over ranked opponents.

So what will the injury situation look like? Well, the initial availability report released by the SEC on Wednesday night helps clue us in. Let’s take a look.

Alabama Crimson Tide

South Carolina Gamecocks

Perhaps the biggest name to watch for Alabama recently was running back Jam Miller, who suffered a concussion prior to last week’s Tennessee game. After going through protocol, he was cleared just in time for the game and managed to log 12 carries, albeit for just 15 yards and one score.

With him healthy, the attention shifts elsewhere. The Tide had five players who were ruled out for the Tennessee game: linebacker Qua Russaw, linebacker Jah-Marien Latham, linebacker Cayden Jones, receiver Derek Meadows and defensive lineman Jeremiah Beaman.

Those players have been out for varying lengths of time. Meadows, for instance, suffered a concussion against Missouri two weeks ago.

On the other side, South Carolina has been without a handful of players, while several others have been listed as game-time decisions or available in recent weeks.

The players that were out for last weekend’s contest against Oklahoma were receiver Brian Rowe, offensive lineman Nolan Hay, offensive lineman Cason Henry and defensive lineman Davonte Miles. It’ll be interesting to see if any can return against Alabama.

South Carolina and Alabama are set to meet at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama board is seeking to prohibit public libraries from placing books that “positively” depict transgender themes and topics in teen and children’s sections.

The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Directors is considering a proposed rule change that expands the existing requirement for youth sections to be free of “material deemed inappropriate for children.” The new proposal said that includes any material that “positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders.”

The Alabama proposal is the latest salvo in the national fight over library content. The state board on Tuesday held a lengthy and sometimes heated and emotional public hearing ahead of next month’s expected vote.

Opponents called the proposal blatantly discriminatory and an attempt to impose one viewpoint on all Alabamians at the expense of trans youth and their families.

“These changes do not protect children — they police ideas,” said Matthew Layne, a past president of the Alabama Library Association.

Supporters of the proposal said parents who want their children to read the books can get them in other places.

“Removing trans books is not book-banning,” Julia Cleland, a member of the group Eagle Forum, told the board. Cleland said she would prefer the books be removed entirely from public libraries, not just youth sections.

John Wahl, the chairman of the library board, said he expects the board to approve the rule change, or an amended version of it, when they meet next month. He said libraries could stock the materials in adult sections where parents could access them for their children.

“We want parents to be confident that the children’s sections of Alabama libraries are age appropriate, that their children are not going to stumble against sexually explicit content,” Wahl said. Wahl is also chair of the Alabama Republican Party.

Some speakers said public libraries must serve all types of families, including those with trans children and adults.

Alyx Kim-Yohn, a librarian in north Alabama, told the board that as a queer teenager, they were isolated and bullied to the point of writing a suicide note.

“What saved me was reading literature that had people like me in it. What saved me was finding other queer folks who had the opportunity to grow up and be queer adults, which not all of us get,” Kim-Yohn said.

Other speakers said they didn’t want their child or grandchild to see books suggesting that gender can be changed.

The three-hour meeting ended with pointed disagreements over the motivation for the proposal.

“It’s politically motivated. It is taking away control from local libraries who are appointed by local governing bodies,” board member Ronald A. Snider said. Snider accused Wahl of using his position as Republican Party chairman to drum up support of the proposal.

Wahl said the proposal was in response to concerns and that his goal was “to put parents in charge.”

If the Alabama change is adopted, a local library could lose state funding if the board decides it is not compliant. The Alabama library board this spring voted to withhold state funding from the Fairhope Public Library because of some of the books available in the teen section of the library.

The Alabama proposal comes amid a wave of legislation and regulations in Republican-controlled states targeting libraries.

Kasey Meehan, the director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America, said this is not the first time they’ve seen a state government “attempt to remove youth access to books with LGBTQ+ themes.” She noted an Idaho law that restricted access to books with content considered “harmful to minors.”

“Policies that target LGBTQ themes in libraries are not only discriminatory but a disaster for libraries and readers,” Meehan said. “These policies feed on ignorance and fear-mongering against queer and trans people, and diminish the ability of libraries to effectively serve all within their communities.”