Alabama Inside Linebacker Enters the Transfer Portal

The junior linebacker has one more season of eligibility to play college football.

The fallout from Alabama's Saturday deadline to enter the transfer portal continues on Monday afternoon as another Crimson Tide player has entered the portal.

Junior linebacker Kendrick Blackshire put his name into the portal over the weekend according to Brandon Howard of Rivals.com.

Blackshire, a former 4-star recruit out of Texas was considered the No. 21 overall linebacker and the No. 30 overall prospect in the state of Texas in the 2021 class.

The 6-foot-2, 233 pound linebacker appeared in 25 games over three seasons playing on special teams and in a reserve linebacker role. He was known as a hard hitter on the coverage teams and ultimately tallied 25 tackles and forced one fumble while recovering another.

He becomes Alabama's 18th player to enter the portal during this offseason cycle and the second inside backer, joining Ian Jackson. 

"He got into the game (and) played fairly well. I think that the big thing we work on with Kendrick is consistency and performance," said Alabama head coach Nick Saban about Blackshire's play against Middle Tennessee State. "When he's locked in and focused he plays really, really well but you got to be able to do it all the time so that you develop the kind of confidence, trust in yourself and your teammates that you need to be a consistent player overall. But he played well in the game when he got a chance to play." 

Alabama returns Deontae Lawson and Jihaad Campbell to the 2024 team, both started at interior linebacker, hindering Blackshire's chances at significant playing time in his final college season.

The former Duncanville High School standout chose the Crimson Tide over LSU and Texas A&M. He will likely be highly sought after in the portal given his time and experience playing at Alabama. 

This story will be updated

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