Alabama Football Faces Transition: Navigating the Winter Transfer Portal

Even though Kalen DeBoer was hired in less than 48 hours, the most skilled college football roster was still in high demand very soon after.

Prominent players and vital contributors such as Ohio State’s Blake Downs, Texas’ Amari Niblack, Iowa’s Kydyn Proctor, and numerous others registered their names in the gateway right away and left.

Leading players and talent, like Jalen Milroe, Malcolm Moore, Tyler Booker, Justice Haynes, and many more, decided early on to remain in Tuscaloosa.With the exception of Julian Sayin (Ohio State) and Jameer Grimsley (Florida), the No. 2 signing class remained unaltered.

The remaining members of the class, however, comprised three five-star cornerbacks.

Keeping as many players on the roster as possible and seeing to it that the guys living on campus were taken care of was the first step.

The next difficult step was to quickly replace some of the lost talent. DeBoer was only able to review the rosters of the schools with a head coaching change due to NCAA regulations.

Only Buffalo, South Alabama, Washington, and a few more colleges were included in that group at the time; a few weeks later, Michigan’s roster became available for 30 days.

DeBoer got to work with his team. Considering their limited time and alternatives, Alabama was able to strike several targets rather well, according to the most recent 247Sports top 150 transfer portal rankings.

All but two of the eight incoming transfers had rankings in the top 150.

In the nation, the Alabama transfer portal class is ranked No. 11, behind conference institutions Ole Miss (1), Texas A&M (2), and South Carolina (9).

Center Parker Brailsford, the No. 21 transfer in the country, moved here from Washington. Brailsford was named a freshman All-American after participating in all 15 games for the Huskies, starting 13 of them at center.

Former five-star defensive lineman LT Overton committed to Alabama while head coach Nick Saban was still in charge and was not allowed to leave. The former standout for Texas A&M is ranked No. 29 in the country.

Another former five-star, cornerback Domani Jackson, also joined Alabama while head coach Nick Saban was still in charge. The former Trojan from USC is ranked No. 41 in the country.

Keon Sabb, a former Michigan safety, is the newest addition and the country’s No. 55 transfer.

Austin Mack, a quarterback, is ranked 64th in the country. From Washington, DeBoer was followed by the 6-foot-6 gunslinger as well.

Germie Bernard, a receiver who was also transferred from Washington, is ranked 142nd in the country.

Josh Cuevas (TE) and Naquil Betrand (OT), Alabama’s two remaining transfers, were not listed in the top 150.