- Running back AK Dear left Alabama’s first fall scrimmage Thursday with an injury the staff has not yet graded.
- Freshman EJ Crowell and receiver Lotzeir Brooks also sat out the scrimmage and will miss further practices.
- Alabama is +850 to win the SEC championship and +2200 to win the national title.
- Quarterback Keelon Russell is +2500 for the Heisman, the shortest price of any Alabama player.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama lost sophomore tailback AK Dear to an injury at its first fall scrimmage Thursday and held five-star freshman running back EJ Crowell out of the session altogether, coach Kalen DeBoer said.
DeBoer Clears Crowell, Waits On Dear
Dear is the open question. Alabama closed the workout to the public, and DeBoer left the sophomore’s return open-ended.
“AK did suffer an injury. He actually was having a nice scrimmage, scored a touchdown,” DeBoer said after the scrimmage, and the staff will evaluate the severity before setting a return date.
Crowell drew the opposite read, closer to maintenance than injury. “EJ did not scrimmage today. He’ll be out for a few practices here. He won’t miss any games down the road,” DeBoer said.
The context matters for what this costs Alabama in September. Dear rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman, a reserve’s workload rather than a lead back’s, and Crowell arrived as a five-star who has yet to take a college carry.
Neither was a locked-in starter. What both were is competition, and a tailback race that loses two entrants for an undetermined stretch of practice reps resolves itself on less evidence than the staff wanted.
Brooks Out As Well, Thinning The Receiver Room
Receiver Lotzeir Brooks made it a third skill player held out. Brooks “missed a couple of practices and did not scrimmage today,” DeBoer said, and he expects the sophomore to sit out a few more.
Brooks caught 32 passes for 441 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman, a 13.8-yard average that made him the most credible complement to Alabama’s front-line receivers. No injury type has been attached to any of the three.
Four SEC Teams Are Priced Shorter Than Alabama
Alabama is +850 to win the SEC championship, a price implying about 10.5 percent. Four teams in the league are priced shorter.
| Team | SEC championship |
|---|---|
| Texas | +280 |
| Georgia | +350 |
| LSU | +700 |
| Texas A&M | +825 |
| Alabama | +850 |
The board has barely shifted since Texas was favored to win its first SEC championship at +280 odds in early July, and Texas holds that same number now.
Nationally the Crimson Tide are +2200, an implied figure of roughly 4.3 percent and well off Ohio State at the top of the college football futures board. Whether Alabama’s real chance is better or worse than what those prices pay is the entire bet, and camp attrition is exactly the sort of information that reaches a number before a snap is played.
A coach saying nobody will miss games is the version of this news that leaves a futures price alone.
Russell Carries The Shortest Alabama Price At +2500
Keelon Russell is +2500 for the Heisman Trophy, the shortest price of any Alabama player and just outside the top 10 on a crowded board led by CJ Carr at +700 and Arch Manning at +850. That price pays 25 times the stake and implies about 3.8 percent.
Russell is a quarterback, so his number is largely insulated from a backfield shuffle, though a Heisman case built on efficiency is easier to make behind a settled run game than an unsettled one. The wider slate of college football props opens as game lines post.
Alabama Opens Sept. 5 Against East Carolina
Alabama opens the season Sept. 5 against East Carolina in Tuscaloosa, an 11 a.m. CT kickoff.
