After winning single-digit games for the first time since 2007, Alabama fans are hopeful that the second year of the Kalen DeBoer era in Tuscaloosa will see a return to normalcy and national title contention for the Crimson Tide.
A source of optimism has been the on-paper improvement Alabama’s roster has seen since the season ended in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31. A combination of impact transfers, returning veteran upperclassmen, and the third-best recruiting class in the country joining the team has many fans optimistic that Alabama can rejoin the top of the SEC and the nation this fall.
Given these hopes, here is a prediction of who the top ten players on Alabama football’s roster will be in 2025.
- Keon Sabb – free safety (redshirt junior)
Former Alabama tight end CJ Dippre recently told the podcast Beat Everyone that Sabb was the toughest defender he ever had to practice against. That’s high praise from someone who also went up against Kool-Aid McKinstry, Terrion Arnold and Caleb Downs in practice.
Sabb’s athletic gifts and ability to pick up receivers in the middle and deep thirds of the field make him a nightmare in zone and man coverage alike, and having a season of acclimating to defensive coordinator Kane Wommack’s system under his belt should only make him more adept going into 2025.
Sabb suffered a season-ending injury in Knoxville versus Tennessee last year, but if healthy, he will be a veteran presence who largely makes up for the loss of safety Malachi Moore to the NFL Draft.
- Domani Jackson – cornerback (senior)
Jackson’s production last year gave credence to his five star rating coming out of high school in 2022. After what he told the Inside the Circle podcast were the “hardest three years of [his] life” — his senior year of high school and his first two at USC — Jackson immediately became the No. 1 corner upon transferring to Alabama and didn’t look back, finding himself comfortable against SEC receivers with his elite speed and athleticism.
Having overcome a difficult injury history, Jackson should only grow in his second year under defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist, as his coverage instincts and route navigation grow closer to matching his raw athletic ability.
- Germie Bernard – wide receiver (senior)
Although Alabama’s 2024 reception leader likely won’t finish with more catches than Ryan Williams again next year, his deft hands and sharp route-running should keep him prepared to handle a ton of volume.
Bernard chipped in 61 yards per game last year, when he and Williams accounted for more than half of the Crimson Tide’s receiving yards, so being joined by receiver talent such as Isaiah Horton, Lotzeir Brooks and a healthy Jalen Hale in 2025 should only make his job easier as those pass-catchers draw some defensive attention away from him.
Bernard’s instincts at the position will make his hold on the second wide receiver spot hard to challenge and should put him in conversations again as the best second option at the position in the nation.
- Parker Brailsford – center (redshirt junior)
Among the mass portal exodus Alabama faced in 2024 following the announced retirement of Nick Saban, one bright spot fans were able to cling to in the transfer portal was Brailsford following DeBoer to Tuscaloosa, a move that evidently gave Alabama one of the best centers in the country.
The former All-Pac-12 player is about as impenetrable a blocker as can be found among college snappers. As a result, he has been ranked in PFF’s top 10 returning interior lineman each of the last two years, placing seventh in that ranking for the 2025 season.
After garnering a lot of warranted attention for his stellar play deep into the playoffs at Washington in 2023, Brailsford’s name will return to prominent conversations about the elite talent on the offensive line in 2025.
- Zabien Brown – cornerback (sophomore)
Ranking Brown higher among defensive backs than Sabb and Jackson, both of whom could very well be picked in the early rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft, is bold, but the choice is vindicated by his stellar play as a true freshman in 2024.
Brown seized what initially was a starting spot that he was thrust into due to a thin defensive back room and capitalized on it, displaying rare skill at mirroring coverage and elite ball production, leading all FBS freshman in interceptions with three and being named to the freshman All-SEC team.
Brown’s work ethic and drive to improve should not only make him a leader in the defensive back room, but should result in another dominant year in which he practically shuts down a side of the field with his lockdown abilities.
- Deontae Lawson – linebacker (redshirt senior)
For the majority of last season, it was widely believed fans were watching the last season of Lawson playing in the crimson and white, as he projected to be a high pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
A season-ending injury against Oklahoma, however — the third injury that caused him to miss time in the last two years — led Lawson to announce that he will return for the 2025 season, in which staying healthy will be essential for both the performance of the team and his draft stock in 2026.
Assuming he can stay on the field, the inside linebacker should continue his streak of elite production off the ball, having finished as a semifinalist for the Butkus award each of the last two seasons.
Lawson will enter his second year as a team captain, and aside from the on-the-field advantage his play creates, his presence as a veteran and leader in the locker room should motivate the team to bring Alabama football back into national championship contention.
- LT Overton – edge rusher (senior)
Close watchers of Alabama football know that Overton’s ability to pressure the quarterback is far better than his sack total of two in 2024 would suggest. PFF reports Overton having a top-30 win rate in the pass-rush at 18%, and if Overton is able to finish those plays with more consistency in 2025, it isn’t unrealistic to think his sack total could grow.
Although he isn’t strictly a defensive end in the traditional sense and can be kicked inside for some plays, Overton’s athletic advantage over nearly every offensive lineman he lines up against makes him ideal to man defensive coordinator Kane Wommack’s “bandit” position for the bulk of his snaps. His ability to find gaps and work around tackles puts him in prime place to anchor a vastly improved Alabama pass rush next season.
- Kadyn Proctor – right tackle (junior)
Among a team loaded with potential pro players, Proctor may draw NFL scouts to Alabama games more than any other player in 2025. A recent CBS Sports mock draft had Proctor being picked second overall in the 2026 draft, which, if it came to pass, would make him the highest selected Alabama player since Heisman winner Bryce Young was selected first overall in 2023.
Proctor’s monstrous 6-foot-7-inches, 360-pound frame, combined with his flexibility and nimble feet, make him possibly the best offensive tackle in the nation, much less the SEC, and fans have yet to see him perform when fully healthy. Nagging injuries, including one that kept him out of spring practices, have been an issue his entire career, and the coaching staff will no doubt try to ease him back into working out this summer to ensure he’s fully healthy come the fall.
If he stays healthy this upcoming year, Proctor should look the part of an NFL tackle, and quarterback Ty Simpson’s potential first year as a starter should be made much more comfortable having Proctor protecting his blindside.
- Tim Keenan III – defensive tackle (redshirt senior)
Keenan has risen from being ranked by 247Sports as the 69th best defensive line prospect in the class of 2021 to PFF having him as the third best returning interior defensive lineman in the country heading into 2025 — that’s a meteoric rise that defies both his evaluations in high school and his sub-optimal size, at 6 feet, 2 inches tall.
Keenan is “not the biggest, not the tallest, but with that comes natural leverage,” Proctor said of his teammate in episode 2 of “The Bama Standard.” “He’s hard to move. Even in the pass game he’s hard to defend.”
Keenan’s athletic development and body maturity over the course of his time at Alabama have allowed him to grow into that dual threat skillset, one which will set him and Overton up to make a formidable two-pronged attack in the pass rush.
While his NFL upside will always be uncertain due to his late blooming and his size, there’s no question Keenan will be an integral part of Alabama’s ability to both stuff the run and pressure the quarterback in 2025.
- Ryan Williams – wide receiver (sophomore)
It should be to no one’s surprise that Williams projects as the best player on Alabama football in 2025. Perhaps the most decorated high school football player in the state’s history, he averaged 18 yards per catch in his freshman year, including 29 yards per catch in his first five games, which included a memorable game-winning performance against Georgia.
Williams’s production dipped along with the rest of the offense over the second half of the year, a problem DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb are sure to focus on avoiding this season.
With this, fans should see Williams hit his next gear, as he will no longer have to constantly work as an artist in the open field trying to pick up yards after the catch, but rather will get frequently schemed open as a focal part of the offense.
The sky’s the limit with Williams’s acrobatic body control, track-star speed, and running-back-esque navigation of gaps in the open field. His improvement going into his sophomore season should be seen in the sharpness of his route-running and his effectiveness as a blocker.
Assuming he does hone in on those abilities, his ceiling is not just the best wide receiver in the conference, but the best player in the nation.
