2026 Alabama Fall Football Preview: The Safeties are the lifeblood of the team

There’s rarely been a time in the last 20 years where the safeties haven’t been a strength of the Alabama Crimson Tide. In general, it’s a position that gets overlooked a little in both recruiting rankings and the NFL Draft… Until a team winds up with a bad one and it breaks the entire defense.

A year ago, the Tide was one of the top defenses in the country in passing defense stats, and that was all thanks to absolutely outstanding secondary play, especially since the Tide was only average in terms of pass rush. Well, then Alabama got great news coming into the 2026, as both of the starting safeties from last year’s team chose to forego the NFL draft and return for their senior seasons, which will be their 3rd season as starters.

Advertisement

Alabama’s defensive coordinator, Kane Wommack, runs a 3-3-5 (or 4-2-5, depending on who you ask) swarm defense that typically operates with a single high safety in predominantly zone coverages. Typically, one safety will line up deep, with the other moving into a shallow zone. And then the “Husky” position, which is a hybrid corner/safety, often lines up in the slot opposite of the shallow safety. The Husky will be included in today’s article with the safeties, but definitely recognize that there can be overlap there between the safeties and cornerbacks.

So, let’s take a look at this position group as we head into the 2026 season.

The Departed

Alabama didn’t lose a whole lot from last year from this group. Senior DaShawn Jones has graduated and moved on as the former starting Husky, but he had pretty well lost his grip on the starting job by the end of 2025. Still, he was a reliable, if unspectacular, presence at the position last year.

Advertisement

Then there was backup Kam Howard, who transferred in a couple of years ago as a depth piece, and has now transferred on to Boston College.

The Returning Starters

#18 Bray Hubbard (Sr) 6’2″ 217

In 1.5 seasons as a starter, Hubbard has racked up 7 interceptions and forced 4 fumbles on his way to becoming one of the bigger defensive playmakers in all of college football. He finished 2025 as a first team All-SEC safety and was a 3rd-team and 2nd-team All-American by a couple of media outlets.

Once a wildcat QB from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Hubbard was a fascinating recruiting story as somewhat that Nick Saban and Pete Golding got him to try playing defensive back on a whim during camp… And it stuck, and now he’s one of the top defensive backs in college football.

Advertisement

Hubbard has the size, speed, and nose for the football to be an every-down impact player in both coverage and tackling. Basically, there’s not much not to like.

Hubbard spent about 75% of his time as the box safety for Alabama, but he did drop back to free safety at times and has the versatility to play any of the spots as needed.

#3 Keon Sabb (RSr) 6’1″ 208

Once a highly talented transfer from Michigan, Sabb has developed into a steady, dependable player for Alabama the last two seasons. While Hubbard has been the playmaking half of this duo, Sabb has been the eraser on the back end of the defense. He’s played primarily as the deep centerfield safety, and while that hasn’t given him much chance for getting his hands on the ball or even making too many tackles, he only allowed 10 total passes to be completed against him last year for a paltry 0.2 yards per coverage snap.

Advertisement

He’s quiet – and there are few better compliments for a deep centerfield safety. He’s not quite got the accolades that Hubbard has, but he was named a preseason 3rd-team All-SEC this summer, so he is starting to get recognized more for his efforts.

#6 Red Morgan (Jr) 6’o” 189

Morgan has had a very interesting first couple of seasons at Alabama. He was an undersized 3-star recruit out of Phenix City that impressed the coaching staff enough during his first summer that he found his way onto the field as a starter in his first couple of games in 2024. However, things went poorly for him, as he was often a few steps out of position and on the wrong end of quite a few bad plays.

Advertisement

A year later in the second half of 2025, Morgan started getting his shot again as the Husky when DaShawn Jones went out with an injury, and he never looked back. Morgan played like a man-possessed, looking like the hardest-hitting defensive back in all of college football despite his sub-190 pound frame. He still had some inconsistencies in pass coverage, but he quickly acquitted himself as one of the best perimeter run defenders around.

Returning Depth

#12 Zavier Mincey (Jr) 6’3″ 206

Mincey was a 5-star prospect as a tall cornerback a couple of seasons ago. He played a decent bit and played well in Alabama’s bowl game against Michigan after 2024. He mostly filled in as the dime defensive back in 2025 and saw time in every game, but he had a few mishaps, including a disastrous couple of plays against Auburn. To this point, he hasn’t shown enough to work his way into a regular despite generally being one of the top backups.

Advertisement

#13 Ivan Taylor (So) 6’0″ 196

Taylor was one of Alabama’s higher profile recruits in the 2025 class. He didn’t really see much time on defense as a freshman, but he was a key piece on special teams all season long. This offseason, he’s gotten all kinds of praise from coaches, other players, and media for how well he’s playing and that he’s looking like he may have taken a step to be the the next real impact maker. To this point, we haven’t seen him enough to know for sure, but there’s a lot of smoke that he may be pushing Mincey and possibly even Red Morgan to get on the field.

#21 Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. (Jr) 5’11” 205

Kirkpatrick, like Taylor, was a special teams stalwart last season. He also a handful of snaps in blowout wins over Louisiana-Monroe and Wisconsin, plus a few occasional snaps in big games. He generally played well every time we saw him, and has consistently displayed a high-energy aggressiveness and nose for the ball.

Advertisement

However, he was arrested for a DUI in November, and was suspended and missed the rest of the season. He did manage to get reinstated with the team this spring, and once again was looking like a playmaker during A-Day.

Incoming Reinforcements

#10 Jireh Edwards (Fr) 6’2″ 221

Edwards was a highly rated 5-star prospect who’s built like a linebacker with the speed and skills of a defensive back. He’s garnered all kinds of praise already this spring and summer, with veteran Zabien Brown calling him a “freak of nature” just this last week. He may not be expected to come in and overtake the vets, but he’s the kind of guy that’s going to get on the field somehow, and is absolutely being planned to take over in 2027

Advertisement

#24 Rihyael Kelley (Fr) 6’3″ 196

Kelley was more of a flier of prospect who was a fairly low-rated and under-recruited player, but has exceptional length and sub 4.5s speed. He’s going to be viewed more as a developmental guy with a long term high upside if he can find the right position to utilize his length and speed.

Predicted Depth Chart

This one’s easy, there isn’t very much to argue about with Hubbard and Sabb returning. That said, while Red Morgan will be the starter at Husky and he seemed to be on a pretty strong ascension at the end of 2025, I do think that both Ivan Taylor and Jireh Edwards will be pushing him for snaps, especially with how Kane Wommack likes to rotate players.

Advertisement

The biggest upset I see is that I think that Zavier Mincey winds up losing his grip on the dime defensive back role to either Taylor or Edwards and falls further down the depth chart than he was last year. The question will be which of Taylor or Edwards shows out the most and how far they can take that success over the course of the season.

Free Safety – Keon Sabb, Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.

Rover Safety – Bray Hubbard, Jireh Edwards, Rihyael Kelley

Husky – Red Morgan, Ivan Taylor, Zavier Mincey