Spring football is over, and transfer portal season season is here again.
The NCAA transfer portal for undergraduate football players opens Wednesday, April 16 and remains open through April 25. Graduates can enter the portal at any time during the academic calendar.
That means Alabama’s roster is likely to change some more in the coming weeks, after 23 players left through the transfer portal during the winter window and the Tide added seven scholarship players before spring practice.
A few key factors loom over the spring transfer portal window.
First, the SEC’s longstanding rule about intraconference transfers remains in place. Unless a football player enters the transfer portal before February 1, he cannot transfer within the conference in the spring and play immediately. That means any SEC player entering the portal during this April window cannot play this fall at another SEC school.
Second, the House vs. NCAA class action settlement has yet to be finalized but could soon be granted final approval by a federal judge in California, who heard objections to the multi-billion lawsuit on April 7. Once the settlement is finalized, NIL deals will be subject to scrutiny from a new enforcement entity that is designed to limit third-party NIL to “legitimate deals that will use the student-athlete’s NIL to advance a valid business purpose.”
In other words, players who transfer before the House settlement approval could benefit from a minimally-regulated NIL environment, while players who transfer after the approval could have their third-party deals more closely policed. In both cases, once the settlement is finalized players can also be paid directly by schools beginning in July as part of a $20 million-per school annual revenue sharing plan.
Kalen DeBoer is hopeful Alabama can benefit from effectively a salary cap created by the revenue-sharing system compared to the current cap-less NIL system that has put Alabama at a disadvantage relative to some other major programs.
Here is a look at which players Alabama has added and lost through the transfer portal this spring:
Transfer portal departures: none yet
Transfer portal additions: none yet
Alabama players will have time off in the coming weeks before many begin summer classes and workouts on May 27. The Tide’s final three freshmen signees — tight end Kaleb Edwards, defensive lineman London Simmons and cornerback Chuck McDonald — will also join the team this summer.
How many roster spots does Alabama have? The NCAA’s traditional 85-scholarship limit is being eliminated with the House settlement, which is instead instituting a 105-player roster cap including walk-ons — unless the deal is modified before final approval to “grandfather” current players. However, the SEC has already instituted its own 85-scholarship cap for its football teams in 2025.
PROJECTED DEPTH CHART FOR 2025
Here is a look at Alabama’s projected depth chart for 2025 based on spring practice viewing and updated to include transfer portal movement:
