Who will be Alabama football's most impactful transfer portal addition? | Goodbread
Is Alabama football finished for the year in the NCAA transfer portal?
Never say never, but summer is fast approaching, and the buzz on potential additions has fallen silent since last week, after the Crimson Tide picked up former UAB safety Jaylen Key. When it comes to the portal, the time to strike is always early. We're now more than two weeks beyond the portal's spring closure, and by this time a year ago, Alabama had already secured all five of its portal adds for 2022. Consider this year's Crimson Tide's five-man portal class on ice, at least, if not finished with certainty.
And sorting out the potential impact of this group begins with Trezmen Marshall.
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The former Georgia linebacker is the one among them that, for now, looks most capable of delivering a major boost to this team. He might prove to be the one Alabama football needs that from most, as well.
Start with the opportunity: Alabama's inside linebacker play was inconsistent last season, and there wasn't a dominant presence at either the Mike or Will positions. Marshall stepped into a spring void left by Henry To'o To'o, now off to the NFL, and Deontae Lawson, who missed the spring while recovering from an injury. Coming from Georgia, where the head coach and two co-defensive coordinators once worked under Nick Saban, Marshall had less of a learning curve and, not surprisingly, wasted no time commanding first-team reps.
Saban wasted no time of his own in adding Marshall, moving to add help at a position of need during the winter portal window, which features more players and more talent than the shorter spring window. Marshall was a rotational contributor for the Bulldogs in 2022 after overcoming knee and shoulder injuries that limited the first half of his college career.
He'll likely play a larger role than that for an Alabama defense that will need improved play, along with a new signal caller, up front.
Ranking the portal class based on potential impact:
1. Marshall. 'Nuff said.
2. TE C.J. Dippre. It's worth noting that Dippre was Saban's first action in the winter portal, and a reliable tight end can be a critically important safety valve for an inexperienced quarterback.
3. QB Tyler Buchner. He plays the game's most important position, but his role, if any, can't be pegged in May. The difference between the Notre Dame transfer and the two aforementioned? Marshall and Dippre showed the chops to be starters in the spring. As a post-spring transfer, Buchner won't get that chance until fall camp.
4. CB Trey Amos. The former Louisiana Ragin' Cajun faces a big jump from a competition standpoint, but in the era of four- and five-wide passing attacks, a defensive coordinator can't have enough corners.
5. S Jaylen Key. Alabama's turnover at both safety positions created a lot of competition in spring practice, and Saban's decision to add Key signals the same thing Buchner's arrival did: the competition needed more juice. He and Amos also represent a numbers backfill, as Alabama lost defensive backs Tre'Quon Fegans and Jahquez Robinson to the spring portal.
Notes
We're now less than two weeks away from SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., and presumably, a long-awaited resolution to the question of how the football scheduling format must change beginning in 2024. A move to a nine-game SEC schedule still looks like the most likely outcome, but it'll be closer to contentious than unanimous. ... After a series win over Texas A&M, the Alabama baseball team has now won five its seven games since the dismissal of former coach Brad Bohannon over a gambling scandal. UA has outscored those seven opponents 49-21 and will close the regular season this weekend against Ole Miss. ... The Atlanta Falcons have signed former UA WR Slade Bolden.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Who will be Alabama football's most impactful transfer for 2023?
