Jumbo Package: Kalen DeBoer names Alabama’s fastest players

Briski finished the regular season with a 20-2 record, 1.46 ERA and 167 strikeouts to just 16 walks. The SEC awards are based on conference only stats, so in SEC play, Briski was 13-2 (most wins) with a 2.23 ERA (third lowest) with 104 strikeouts (second most) and three saves with a WHIP of 0.93 (tied for best in SEC.)

She started the first and third games against South Carolina while earning the save in Game 2. She got the win in the regular season finale, striking out nine Gamecocks in the complete-game victory. Her performance against the Gamecocks further solidified her stance as one of the best pitchers in the SEC and country. Briski and freshman Vic Moten give Alabama one of the best pitching duos in the nation. That second elite pitcher has been missing in recent years, and it’s cost the Tide in tournament season. Hopefully they have a WCWS run in them. Kalen DeBoer thinks the “fastest player” debate on the 2026 roster is a two-horse race. Alabama’s two fastest players might be in the receiving room.

During a recent interview on AL.com’s Beat Everyone podcast, DeBoer was asked, who is the fastest player on the team right now?

“There’s a lot of guys in that 23, 22.5 to 23 (mph) range almost, kind of touching that,” DeBoer said. “I don’t know who officially is the fastest right now, but I’ll put a lot of those receivers, Lotzeir Brooks and Ryan Williams up there. I would say those are probably two of the faster guys on the football team.” It’s way too early to talk about a 2028 commit, but the sheer size of this young QB is noteworthy. Scott is listed at 6-feet-5, 255 pounds. He’s from Richmond, Virginia.

Scott’s pledge arrives less than a week after Alabama also landed the No. 1 quarterback in the 2027 recruiting class in Elijah Haven out of Baton Rouge. The Crimson Tide also has secured a commitment from Trent Seaborn, who plays for Thompson in the 2027 class.

DeBoer and his staff have shined at recruiting quarterbacks. He has landed a top-five quarterback per either the Rivals Industry Ranking or the 247Sports Composite in each of his three recruiting classes at Alabama. That includes Keelon Russell (2025), Jett Thomalla (2026) and now Haven (2027). That is one big dude. CBS has Alabama 64th in its returning snaps ranking. Teams that return most of their offensive line tend to rate well in overall returning snaps, given the position group’s high volume of consistent snap participation. A similar effect often shows up in the secondary on defense, where snap distribution is typically more concentrated than along the defensive line.

Notre Dame tops the list, returning 66% of its total offensive and defensive snaps from the 2025 season. Five of the six teams with the best FanDuel Sportsbook odds to win this year’s national title rank among the top 15 nationally in returning overall snap percentage. The one exception is reigning national champion Indiana, which ranks No. 63 after replacing a significant portion of its roster, returning just 34% of its offensive snaps and 48% of its defensive snaps. SEC schools are having a hard time getting consensus on a binding agreement to support the enforcment arm. You’ll never guess which school is most concerned about giving up the right to sue. In fact, just last week, SEC presidents and chancellors, along with their individual general counsels, met for a lengthy discussion about the agreement. There wasn’t complete consensus. Some universities (Tennessee, as well as others) expressed deep issues with a document requiring a public school to waive its legal rights.

The lack of consensus from the conference is expected to morph into an alternative to the participant agreement — a watered-down “resolution” of sorts that many believe won’t achieve the desired effect. It’s a change in strategy – not necessarily a complete abandonment of the original principles – to avoid the legal entanglements associated with state authority.

“We are at the point where we have to make a decision,” says one league source. It’s always Tennessee. Last, there were apparently some rumors online that Jamarion Davis-Fleming was getting cold feet. He decided to shut those down. After spending his freshman year at Mississippi State, Jamarion Davis-Fleming will join the Crimson Tide‘s roster for the 2026-27 season. Days ago, though, rumors circulated that he had not signed with Alabama and was considering a return to Starkville.

On Friday, May 1, Davis-Fleming put any doubt that he was going to play for anyone other than coach Nate Oats to rest.

“Stop with the false rumors, I’m Locked in with The Tide,” Davis-Fleming wrote. That’s about it for today. Have a great week. Roll Tide.