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Alabama loses defender to transfer portal following upset loss to Vanderbilt
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Alabama is losing one player to the transfer portal coming off one of the most shocking losses in program history.
Defensive lineman Jehiem Oatis is reportedly planning to redshirt the remainder of the 2024 season and enter the transfer portal, according to a Monday report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The decision comes on the heels of Vanderbilt’s stunning upset in Week 6, the first for the Commodores against a No. 1 team.
Oatis is a former starter for the Crimson Tide, but his usage has dipped this season. According to Thamel, Oatis’s decision is directly tied to reduced playing time.
Alabama junior DT Jehiem Oatis plans to redshirt and enter the NCAA transfer portal, he told ESPN. Oatis started 13 games his first two years and was a Top 40 recruit. He said the reason for leaving is playing time, as he played 25 total snaps against Georgia and Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/pksgmAWsGY
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 7, 2024
Coming out of high school, Oatis was a 4-star prospect and one of the best players from Mississippi for the 2022 recruiting class. He made an immediate impact with 13 starts his first 2 seasons but has just 2 tackles and a pass breakup from the season opener this season.
In Oatis’s first 2 seasons, he delivered 55 total tackles, 3 TFLs and 1.5 sacks to go with 4 pass breakups. Now, he’s looking at a change of scenery.
Oatis’s decision is one that is becoming more and more common in the new era of college football. With NIL factors and the transfer portal in play, more and more players are exercising their ability to sit out games on the schedule while looking forward to the 2025 season before we even wrap up the schedule in play.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
