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Alabama only SEC team to not lose scholarship player in spring portal
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Alabama accomplished something this spring that’s extremely hard to do in this day and age of college football.
The Crimson Tide got through the spring transfer portal window without 1 scholarship player leaving Tuscaloosa. Every other SEC team suffered losses to their rosters this spring except for Alabama, which was able to navigate through the portal window and come out with 0 scholarship players seeking greener pastures.
Alabama’s ability to do the near impossible this spring sets up Kalen DeBoer well for his second season as head coach. It also is a testament to the job done by Crimson Tide football general manager Courtney Morgan.
The roster stability achieved by Alabama this spring is the complete opposite of the scene in Tuscaloosa last spring. After Nick Saban retired in January of 2024, there was a major exodus of players who left Alabama because they were unsure of what the Crimson Tide would look like without Saban’s presence.
Perhaps that spring exodus was the first sign that DeBoer’s first season at Alabama wasn’t going to go particularly well. Because it didn’t, as the Crimson Tide started strong but limped to the finish line, losing their bowl game and going 9-4, a record that is solid in most places but not in Tuscaloosa.
The 2025 season could be set up for better success now with the simple fact that Alabama isn’t operating at such a loss going into the summer.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
