Alabama football lands King Mack, transfer safety from Penn State
Alabama football has landed another defensive back from the transfer portal.
King Mack, who spent the 2023 season with Penn State, will transfer to join the Crimson Tide and Kalen DeBoer's team. He made the announcement on Instagram on Friday.
Mack is heading into his sophomore season, having played in 13 games for the Nittany Lions. He primarily saw time on special teams but also had 70 snaps on defense, per Pro Football Focus' charting. Over the course of the season, Mack tallied three tackles.
He was the No. 7 safety in the 2023 recruiting class, per the 247Sports Composite. He was also a top-100 player, ranked No. 87 as a four-star prospect. He had offers from Michigan State, Arkansas and others before he chose Penn State. Mack played for St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.
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The transfer portal closed at the end of April for players to declare they were leaving their current school, but they are allowed to continue making decisions where they will play next.
Alabama's secondary will look significantly different from a season ago. The only returning starter is Malachi Moore. Gone are starting cornerbacks Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold, safety Jaylen Key (all in the NFL Draft), and Caleb Downs (transfer portal).
Alabama had previously added USC's Domani Jackson, Michigan's Keon Sabb, Charlotte's Kam Howard and Wake Forest's DaShawn Jones in the secondary via the transfer portal as well as a variety of freshmen.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: King Mack: Alabama football lands Penn State defensive back transfer
