Alabama Football Turns To Bray Hubbard To Step Up After Injury to Starting Safety

The former two-way star from Mississippi is in line for his first defensive start for the Crimson Tide on Saturday.

Bray Hubbard / Alabama Athletic

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The No. 15 Alabama football program beings to regroup on Monday after losing the annual rivalry game to Tennessee this past Saturday. The Crimson Tide's two losses put them behind the eight-ball as they look to still qualify for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoffs.

Alabama must rebound this weekend against No. 21 Missouri as the Tigers come to Tuscaloosa for homecoming. The Crimson Tide must do it shorthanded against the Tigers as it was announced that starting safety Keon Sabb would miss time with a lower leg injury.

The Crimson Tide turns to sophomore Brayson Hubbard to step into a starting role while Sabb is out. Hubbard, a former 3-star athlete out of Mississippi, played in nine games on special teams as a freshman and has appeared in all seven games this year on defense and special teams.

"Yeah, Bray's been working hard for this opportunity," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. "He's worked, not just last week, but every week he's worked to be ready and we had no doubt that he would be come Saturday when he was called upon. He'll go out there again this week and I know our team really believes in him. He does a lot of things on special teams and you can see it every day in practice. He's been around the program and now this is that time, that next-man-up mentality. That's what we talk about and that's what it's got to be. I know the high level of want-to that he has and am excited for his opportunity. I love Keon to death and Keon's a warrior, man. There's more things I want to say about Keon and what he did to go out there to try to help our football team, but there's a next-man-up mentality and I'm excited about the opportunity that Bray has in front of him."

Hubbard got significant time on defense on Saturday as Sabb left near the start of the second half after breaking up a deep pass. The sophomore finished the game second on the team in tackles with nine, including a big third down stop in the fourth quarter to give the Alabama offense one final possession.

"I thought Bray really did some great things in the game," Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. "Obviously, had a huge third down stop when we needed to go three-and-out in that scenario right there and get the ball back for our offense. He made a helluva play. I thought he did some really good things in the game."