Alabama Injury Updates: LaBryan Ray to Miss Time

Head coach Nick Saban offered the latest on numerous players including running back Trey Sanders and defensive back Malachi Moore during Sunday's Media Day.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — At Alabama football's Media Day, coach Nick Saban offered injury updates on defensive lineman LaBryan Ray, running back Trey Sanders and defensive back Malachi Moore.

During the media's first practice viewing of fall camp on Friday, Ray was noticeably absent from the defensive line drills. The absence of the redshirt-senior raised questions of his health, which has been a recurring issue over his time with the Crimson Tide.

"LaBryan Ray has a pretty significant groin injury that he kinda got toward the end of the summer that may keep him out for a couple of weeks," Saban said. "But hopefully we’ll get him back and he’ll be confident in his ability to play and we’ll just wait to see day-to-day how that goes.”

Ray suffered a season-ending foot injury during his freshman season in 2017 as well as lower leg injury during his sophomore campaign in 2019. He also battled injuries in 2020 that resulted in him only playing in seven games.

Ray isn't the only player seeing injury issues, with both Sanders and Moore recovering from their own respective injuries.

In 2019, Sanders suffered an injury in the program's fall camp that resulted in him receiving a medical redshirt. During the team's bye week in 2020, Sanders was involved in a serious car accident that ended his sophomore season.

During Friday's media viewing, Sanders was out on the field and was moving around very well, spurring optimism regarding his recovery. On Sunday morning, Saban confirmed that Sanders is nearing its completion.

"Trey Sanders I think is getting very close to being 100 percent," Saban said. "The issue always with a player who has a significant injury like he had is how’s he going to respond when he actually starts having to play football and gets hit and has to hit other people. That’s an unknown that we’ll just have to wait and see because we’ve only been in shorts and helmets so far so we’ve had very limited contact.

"But we’re pleased with his progress, I’m pleased with his attitude. I see his burst in acceleration coming back and he’s been able to do it and repeat it on a day-to-day basis without having issue."

The final injury update was that of Moore. Moore missed the Crimson Tide's games in the College Football Playoff against Notre Dame and Ohio State due to a back injury. Over the course of spring practice, Moore was limited as he was recovering from said injury.

Moore continued his recovery over the summer and was at practice both days this past week.

“Malachi Moore has practiced each and every day so far," Saban said. "He did all summer long. So we’re hopeful that he won’t have any injuries but as we all know, those of us — including me — that have had some issues with their back, that sometimes these things reoccur with really — sometimes hard to figure what the reason for this is. What did I do? How did it happen? Why is it hurting again?

"So you never know about that part of it but so far he’s done a really, really good job.”

While not noted as injured, tight end Jahleel Billingsley was absent from Alabama's first two practices of fall camp. Billingsley took on a larger role as the season progressed in 2020 and is expected to see even more playing time in 2021.

Saban did not comment on the specific reason behind Billingsley's absence, but did remark on his level of commitment.

"I think that has a lot to do with his level of commitment that I talked about before, in terms of doing the right things, developing as a player,” Saban said. “He does have a lot of ability. He can be a positive contributor on the team. But he’s also got to buy into the principles and values of the team and be a good teammate. Do the things that everyone else in the organization does so that he has the respect of his teammates. 

"We’re certainly trying to help him do that and hopefully he’ll be back out there with us in a few days. We’ll see how that all develops."