TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama has spent the last several days getting back to the basics. It has been a few weeks since the team’s last game, the SEC championship win over Georgia, and practice for the Rose Bowl against Michigan began on Saturday. The first few days were spent getting re-acclimated to practicing and re-establishing good habits.
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“Just a lot of (first team offense vs first team defense),” defensive back Malachi Moore said. “Going against our good receivers, first-team offense and just going out there and competing. Making sure we’re working on our technique, working on the fundamentals that we really don’t get to harp on as much when we game plan for a team in game week. It’s been a good week of just getting back to the fundamentals of things, like you said, and getting good-on-good reps.”
These also have been the first few practices for the early enrollees. One player who garnered some praise is five-star quarterback Julian Sayin, from starting quarterback Jalen Milroe.
“With him, he spins the ball really well,” Milroe said. “It’s been really good to have him in the room, to have another guy in the room. With everything, just appreciative to have another brother in the room. He’s doing a really good job practicing. He’s a good dude.”
Sayin is one of the top-rated players in Alabama’s 2024 class, which has jumped to the No. 2 spot in the 247Sports Composite since Monday. The early signing period begins on Wednesday and momentum is trending toward Alabama for a strong finish in this cycle and potentially the No. 1 ranking.
On Tuesday, Alabama added transfer defensive lineman Lebbeus “LT” Overton, the No. 2 transfer portal defensive lineman from Texas A&M. Overton, who spent more than 10 years of his life in Tuscaloosa (both parents were employees of the University of Alabama) will return with two years of eligibility and will add necessary experience to a defensive line/edge group that’s losing a good amount of production to the NFL.
It’s important to note that Overton reclassified from the 2023 class to the 2022 class and still found his way into the playing rotation on the line of scrimmage. There’s reason to believe Alabama is getting a player primed to take the next step and will develop him nicely under position coach Freddie Roach.
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Former Texas A&M DL LT Overton commits to Alabama
Overton’s commitment speaks to a growing trend in recruiting. Alabama was one of Overton’s finalists out of high school and maintained the relationship post-recruitment. In the portal era, maintaining those good relationships after a prospect commits elsewhere can pay dividends down the road.
On Monday night, Alabama secured the commitment of four-star edge Jayshawn Ross, who was mentioned in Monday’s recruiting reset. Ross, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound prospect isn’t the heaviest edge rusher right now but has the prerequisite athleticism, length and speed to become an impact player. Another element that favors Ross is that he has gotten significant playing time as a stand-up outside linebacker in high school. A highlight from Ross’ senior season made the rounds on social media shortly after his commitment, which illustrates his potential.
Eagles LB Jayshawn Ross levels the QB. Tough call. He’s 6’4” 225 lbs, freaky strong, freaky fast. It’s Read Option. His job is to HIT QB!! Looked legal. We are gonna watch this guy terrorize QBs for years. @JayshawnRoss31 @LNEagleFootball @CoachALierman pic.twitter.com/D6IDJPniwY
— WOWKC (@WOWKCfootball) December 5, 2023
Also of note: Four-star running back Jadan Baugh, mentioned in the recruiting reset, decommitted from Arkansas on Monday. He officially visited Alabama last weekend alongside four-star running back and Miami commit Kevin Riley, a Tuscaloosa native who could flip to Alabama. Recruiting is known for its late twists and turns, and it appears that Alabama’s momentum will continue through the early signing period to maintain the program’s unprecedented run of top-three recruiting finishes.
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What to watch from Alabama in the early signing period: Who could join Tide's class?
Here are some other newsworthy items around the program this week:
Injury updates ahead of Rose Bowl
The long break after the SEC championship allowed for much-needed rest for players dealing with short-term, nagging injuries and more serious, long-term injuries. As it stands now, most of Alabama’s team is full-tilt for the Rose Bowl.
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Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry left the SEC championship with a concussion but has cleared concussion protocol and has been a practice participant since bowl prep began. Another starter, running back Jase McClellan, is a little more uncertain. He re-injured an ongoing foot injury against Auburn and missed the Georgia game.
It’s too early to determine his availability for the Rose Bowl, but he’s improving.
“He’s getting better,” Nick Saban said Monday. “I think it’s probably still too early to tell. He’s getting ready to do dry-land running and some things. He’ll progress through the rest of the week, and we’ll see where he lands by the end of the week.”
Saban comments on Helow
Last week, The Athletic reported that Alabama added former Michigan linebackers coach George Helow to its staff as a special assistant to Saban.
“George has been here before (as a graduate assistant in 2012), knows the system,” Saban said. “I think every year that we’ve been in the playoffs we’ve tried to bring somebody in, primarily because we spent two weeks (between the SEC championship and the start of bowl prep) on the road recruiting. So (hiring) somebody to do a little extra work that has good experience, and when we get off the road being able to give us a good scouting report of what we need to know. So that’s the purpose, just to add sort of a special assistant to me, whatever you want to call it, to when I come off the road be able to get me up to speed on what’s happening.”
Saban deflected questions about Helow’s long-term plans and if he’ll replace outside linebackers/special teams coordinator Coleman Hutzler (who was hired as Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator but is staying with Alabama through the College Football Playoff) at the end of the season. For now, Helow’s foundational knowledge of Michigan will serve as an asset, and as far as any worry of past sign stealing, Saban said it won’t change the preparation.
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“We always change things up a little bit,” Saban said. “We’re focused on what we have to do to try to get good execution, and we’re not really concerned about any of that stuff.”
Milroe, Moore, Turner legacies
Milroe, Moore and linebacker Dallas Turner met with the media after being named permanent team captains at the team’s end-of-season banquet. Voted on by teammates, the three players will place their hands and cleats in cement at Denny Chimes on campus before the 2024 A-Day game. They shared what the honor meant to them:
Milroe: “I take a lot of pride in that. I’m very appreciative to be seen as that. But with anything, I try to play for my brothers in the locker room, I try to play for the coaches, and I try to play for the A. I try to do it as best as I can. It’s a true honor to have those accolades. Now, I have to take it another step and be the best version of myself every single day that I’m in the facility.”
Moore: “To me, that’s kind of the biggest honor you can receive here. Just being looked at by your teammates and your brothers as a person who leads by example and somebody they can look up to that does the right thing, yeah, it’s truly an honor to be voted a captain by my teammates.”
Turner: “It’s just a blessing to lead the group of guys that we have. It’s just something that’s going to be set in stone forever, we come back and put our hands in cement in stuff like that. It’s a big accomplishment, it’s a blessing and I’m just grateful to lead a group of guys like that.”
(Photo of Malachi Moore: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)