Bray Hubbard, Next Man Up for Alabama Football

On Monday, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer mentioned that Michigan transfer safety Keon Sabb will miss "a while" with a lower-body injury suffered in Saturday's loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.

Sabb was listed on the weekly injury report on Friday and was listed as a game-time decision 90 minutes before kickoff on Saturday. Sabb played through injury but exited the game in the second half and did not return following a downfield pass breakup on Tennessee receiver Squirrel White.

The backup, Bray Hubbard, entered the game and played well. Hubbard finished the game as the second-leading tackler for Alabama with nine total tackles.

When Alabama needed to get stops, Hubbard came in and was a hard-hitting safety, making a crucial stop on third down, with good tackling form, to give Alabama a chance to have a game-winning drive on offense.

Hubbard logged a career-high 51 snaps in the loss to Tennessee.

Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack praised Hubbard for his reps against Tennessee,

“I thought Bray really did some great things in the game,” Wommack said. “Obviously had a huge third-down stop when we needed to get a three-and-out in that scenario and get the ball back to our offense. He made a hell of a play. I thought he did some really good things in the game.”

The performance did not go unnoticed by head coach Kalen DeBoer either, "

“Bray’s been working hard for this opportunity,” said DeBoer. “He worked, not just last week, but every week to be ready, and we had no doubt he would become Saturday when he was called upon. He’ll go out there again this week.

“Our team really believes in him. He does a lot of things on special teams. You can see it every day in practice. He’s been around the program, and now this is that time, that next-man-up mentality that we talk about, and that’s what it’s got to be. I know the high-level want-to that he has. I’m excited for his opportunity."

Hubbard was a two-sport athlete for Ocean Springs High School in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. As a four-star recruit according to composite, Hubbard was a quarterback in high school passing for 2,197 yards and 21 touchdowns, while adding 20 rushing touchdowns to the resume.

Hubbard will be tasked with guarding arguably the best wide receiver duo in the SEC in his first career start, but his work ethic and attention to detail could be a welcomed change brought on by unfortunate circumstances to Alabama's defense.

No. 15 Alabama will kick off its homecoming game against the No. 21 Missouri Tigers at 2:30 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.