Alabama is eight days away from its home opener against East Carolina, and several players are still working their way back from injuries. The Crimson Tide wants a settled lineup for Week 1, but the picture is not fully clear yet.

Kalen DeBoer spoke on Friday, August 28, on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on WJOX 94.5, about his roster’s health status. The biggest news came on Noah Rogers. 

“He is much further ahead (than anticipated) … he will miss a few games still, but he’s out there going through drills,” DeBoer said about Rogers. “There’s a progression we have to go through. We have to be smart.”

Rogers enrolled at Alabama for the 2026 season after entering the portal following the 2025 campaign. Staff viewed him as a starter opposite Ryan Coleman-Williams and Lotzeir Brooks. He went down on Saturday, April 11, 2026, in the A-Day spring game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Reports pointed to a lower-body issue involving the left knee.

“He will have to get evaluated. Unfortunate with him getting dinged up. We’ll kind of see what that looks like. He will go get the MRI,” DeBoer said back in April.  

Two days later, the Alabama head coach shared more information about Rogers’ injury, saying that the wide receiver would take a little while to recover. “It will bleed into the season here a little bit — I’m not gonna give a timeline exactly. He won’t be ready to go right when the season starts. We expect it to be a situation where he will be back during the season,” DeBoer said.

The recovery has moved faster than that first window. On July 22, DeBoer said Rogers had already passed the original timeline but would still miss some early games. By August 23, Rogers was spotted back in individual drills. 

At NC State in 2025, the wide receiver appeared in 13 games and finished with 33 receptions, 441 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Over 2024 and 2025 with the Wolfpack, he had 68 catches, 919 yards, and 3 touchdowns. He was a four-star transfer, ranked No. 15 among portal wide receivers by 247Sports, after starting his college career at Ohio State.

The Alabama head coach also shared key updates about other players, as the Tide get ready for its Week 1 game. DeBoer is optimistic that the players who got injured in the fall camp are not expected to miss beyond four to five games. Except Jorden Edmonds, who will be back a little later into the season.

Who else is injured on the roster

Edmonds is a true freshman five-star cornerback. The 247Sports Composite ranked him No. 3 at corner and about No. 20 overall in the 2026 class. He committed in March 2025, signed in December, and enrolled early in January 2026. 

The CB impressed in the spring and was working as a primary backup behind starters Zabien Brown and Dijon Lee Jr. He suffered a lower-body injury in practice during the week of August 10–13, before Alabama’s first fall-camp scrimmage on August 13. Early reports said he would miss at least a few weeks. On August 24, he posted “Back real” on Instagram. 

Lotzeir Brooks missed both fall-camp scrimmages with an undisclosed issue. On August 24, DeBoer said he was “out there practicing, taking reps, close to full go.” The wide receiver is expected to be ready or close to ready for Week 1. 

EJ Crowell, a five-star freshman running back, has an ankle tweak and missed both scrimmages. DeBoer said that he is “slowly progressing” and “hopeful he’ll be ready to roll for the first game,” but he would not say that for sure. 

Nick Sherman, a junior-college transfer corner, suffered a lower-extremity injury in the August 20 scrimmage. He is being evaluated and has been seen in a non-contact jersey.

Jireh Edwards, another five-star freshman safety, suffered an arm injury in practice on Monday, August 24, and had surgery. There is a possibility of his return early in the season. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack has called Edwards one of the most instinctive high-school playmakers he has seen. 

The long-term hit is Jeremiah Beaman. He tore an ACL in Sunday, August 23, practice. The injury is season-ending, as this was his second ACL tear in two years. He tore one after the 2025 opener against Florida State and missed the rest of that season. 

Alabama opens Saturday, September 5, against East Carolina.