The 2019 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

in the

2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 150th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. This was the Crimson Tide's 125th overall season, 86th as a member of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC), and 28th within the SEC's Western Division. They played their home games at

Bryant–Denny Stadium Saban Field at Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the Southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the S ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

, and were led by 13th-year head coach

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. ( ; born October 31, 1951) is an American sportscaster and former Professional gridiron football, professional and college football coach. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's ''College GameDay (football TV program), Colleg ...

. The defending national runners-up, Alabama began the season ranked second in the AP Poll, and were the favorites to repeat as SEC Champions. The Crimson Tide won their first seven games of the year handily, and rose to first in the AP Poll. They were ranked third in the season's first

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

rankings heading into an anticipated match-up against second-ranked

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, which Alabama lost 46–41. The next week, Alabama lost starting quarterback

Tua Tagovailoa Tuanigamanuolepola Donny Tagovailoa ( ; born March 2, 1998) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide ...

to a season-ending hip injury in the game against

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

. They finished the regular season with a 48–45 upset loss to cross-state rival Auburn. With a regular season record of 10–2, Alabama was not selected for the

for the first time ever, having made the CFP every year since the inception of the format in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. The Crimson Tide were also not invited to a

New Year's Six The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, are the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are traditionally play ...

bowl game, making this the first season since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

that Alabama was not selected to a NY6 or

BCS BCS may refer to: American football * Bowl Championship Series, a system that selected matchups for major college football bowl games between 1998 and 2013 * BCS conferences, the six FBS conferences with automatic major bowl bids under that sys ...

bowl. They were instead invited to the

Citrus Bowl The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Pop-Tarts Bowl and Florida Classic. The g ...

, where they defeated

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Tagovailoa, at the time of his injury, was considered a candidate for the Heisman Trophy and was on pace to break his own NCAA FBS passer rating record. He was replaced by backup

Mac Jones Michael McCorkle "Mac" Jones (born September 5, 1998) is an American professional football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). Jones played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he set t ...

for the remainder of the season. Running back

Najee Harris Najee Mzee Harris ( ; born March 9, 1998) is an American professional American football, football running back for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide football ...

led the team with 1,224 rushing yards and 20 total touchdowns, tied for the SEC lead. Receivers Jerry Jeudy and

DeVonta Smith DeVonta Smith ( ; born November 14, 1998) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he recorded over 1,800 ...

were both named All-SEC. On defense, the team was led by first-team all-conference players linebacker

Anfernee Jennings Anfernee Jennings (born May 1, 1997) is an American professional football linebacker for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected in the third round o ...

and safety Xavier McKinney. Nine Alabama players were selected in the

2020 NFL draft The 2020 NFL draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

, including No. 5 overall selection Tua Tagovailoa.

Offseason

Position key

Offseason departures

Seven Alabama players with remaining eligibility declared early for the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

. In addition, 14 seniors from the 2018 team graduated.

Recruiting

Alabama's 2019 recruiting class consisted of 27 recruits, 15 of which enrolled early. Alabama had the highest ranked class in the nation according to

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite bei ...

and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, and had the second best class behind

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

according to Rivals.com. The class was ranked No. 1 by the 247Sports Composite, which aggregates the ratings of the major recruiting services. Headlining the class were consensus top-10 recruits Antonio Alfano (defensive end), Trey Sanders (running back), and

Evan Neal Evan Neal (born September 19, 2000) is an American professional football guard for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected seventh overall by the Giants ...

(offensive tackle).

Transfers

Outgoing Incoming

Returning starters

Offense Defense Special teams

Spring game

The 2019 Crimson Tide held spring practices in March and April. The 2019 Alabama football spring game, "A-Day" took place in

Tuscaloosa, AL Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-most populous city, the population was ...

on April 13, 2019, at 1 p.m. CST with the White team beating the Crimson team 31–17. Freshman WR John Metchie III was named A-Day MVP after hauling in five catches for a game-high 133 receiving yards. White team QB

led all passers, completing 19 of 23 passes for 271 yards.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

SEC media days

The 2019 SEC Media Days were held July 15–18 in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. In the preseason media poll, Alabama was voted the overwhelming favorite to repeat as West Division Champion and SEC Champion.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Crimson Tide had 13 players at 14 positions selected to the preseason all-SEC teams. Offense ''1st team''

– QB

– RB Jerry Jeudy – WR Alex Leatherwood – OL Jedrick Wills – OL ''2nd team''

Jaylen Waddle Jaylen Waddle (born November 25, 1998) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected sixth overall by the ...

– WR ''3rd team'' Miller Forristall – TE Matt Womack – OL Defense ''1st team'' Raekwon Davis – DL

– LB Dylan Moses – LB Trevon Diggs – DB ''2nd team''

Patrick Surtain II Patrick Frank Surtain II ( ; born April 14, 2000) is an American professional American football, football cornerback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide football, ...

– DB Xavier McKinney – DB ''3rd team'' LaBryan Ray – DL Terrell Lewis – LB Shyheim Carter – DB Specialists ''1st team'' Jaylen Waddle – all purpose player Jaylen Waddle – RET

Schedule

Alabama announced its 2019 football schedule on September 18, 2018. The 2019 Crimson Tide' schedule consisted of 7 home games, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site game for the regular season. Alabama hosted four SEC conference opponents

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

(

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

( Third Saturday of October), and

(

) and traveled for four SEC opponents to

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

(

), and archrival Auburn for the 84th

Iron Bowl The Alabama–Auburn football rivalry, better known as the Iron Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn University Tigers, both charter members of the Southeastern Conf ...

to close out the SEC regular season on the road. Alabama was not scheduled to play SEC East opponents

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and Vanderbilt in the 2019 regular season. The Crimson Tide's bye week came during week 6 (on October 5) and week 10 (on November 2). Alabama's out of conference opponents represented the ACC, C-USA, Independents, and Southern. The Crimson Tide hosted three non–conference games which were against

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

of the

FBS independents National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to schedule ...

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

, and Western Carolina of the SoCon to close out the regular season and traveled to

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County and extends into neighboring DeKalb County. With a population of 520,070 (2024 estimate) living within the city limits, At ...

for Chick-fil-A Kickoff to host

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

from the ACC. :Schedule Source:

Coaching staff

;Graduate assistants *

Vinnie Sunseri Vincent Salvatore Sunseri (born October 25, 1991) is an American football coach and former player who is the safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators. He played professionally as a safety in the National Football Leag ...

* Tino Sunseri * Andy Kwon ;Analysts *Isaac Shewmaker *Joe Houston *Johnathan Galante * A. J. Milwee * Alex Mortensen *

Major Applewhite Major Lee Applewhite (born July 26, 1978) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for the University of South Alabama, a position he has held since 2024. Prior to that he was the head coach at the Un ...

Mike Stoops Michael Joseph Stoops (born December 13, 1961) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the inside linebackers coach for the University of Kentucky, a position he has held since 2022. Stoops also served as the head football ...

* Javier Arenas * Nick Perry *Dean Altobelli *Gordon Steele *

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

Rob Ezell Robert Ezell (born November 3, 1988) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator for Wake Forest University, positions he has held since 2025. High school career Ezell attended Athens High School i ...

*Patrick Reilly

Roster

Depth chart

Projected Depth Chart 2019: ''True Freshman''
Double Position : *

Game summaries

vs Duke Blue Devils

Sources: Statistics

New Mexico State Aggies

Sources: Statistics

At South Carolina Gamecocks

Sources: Statistics

Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Sources: Statistics

Ole Miss Rebels

Sources: Statistics

At No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies

Sources: Statistics

Tennessee Volunteers

Sources: Statistics

Arkansas Razorbacks

Sources: Statistics

No. 2 LSU Tigers

Sources: Statistics

At Mississippi State Bulldogs

Sources: Statistics

Western Carolina Catamounts

Sources: Statistics

At No. 15 Auburn Tigers

Sources: Statistics

vs No. 14 Michigan Wolverines

Sources: Statistics

Rankings

Statistics

Team

Offense

Defense

Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, PD: Passes Defended, FF: Forced Fumbles, FR: Fumbles Recovered, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties

Special teams

Scoring

Scores by quarter (non-conference opponents)

Scores by quarter (SEC opponents)

Scores by quarter (All opponents)

Awards and honors

Postseason

Bowl game

Alabama was selected to face Michigan in the 2020 Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day. The last time Alabama faced Michigan was during the regular season in 2012 when the Tide beat Michigan 41–14. Alabama defeated Michigan 35–16 in the 2020 VRBO Citrus Bowl on January 1, 2020, to close out the season at 11–2 overall. For nine straight seasons, the Crimson Tide has won 11 or more games.

2020 NFL draft

The

was held virtually on April 23–25, 2020. Crimson Tide who were picked in the 2020 NFL Draft: Source:

Media affiliates

Radio

* WTID (FM) (Tide 102.9) – Nationwide (Dish Network,

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...

radio and

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

)

TV

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Family - CBS 42 (CBS),

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Family -

ABC 33/40 ABC 33/40 is a television station serving as the ABC affiliate for the Birmingham, Alabama, television market. It is broadcast by WBMA-LD (channel 58), a low-power station, in the immediate Birmingham area, as well as on subchannels of WABM (6 ...

(ABC),

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

SEC Network SEC Network (SECN) is an American multinational sports network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (which hold ...

) *

FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

Family -

WBRC WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WTBM-CD (channel 24). The two stations studios atop R ...

(FOX),

/ FS1, FSN

References

{{Alabama Crimson Tide football

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Alabama Crimson Tide football seasons Citrus Bowl champion seasons

Alabama Crimson Tide football The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama (variously Alabama, UA, or Bama) in the sport of American football. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Crimson Tide competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the Nat ...