'All Smiles': Keon Sabb Approaching Season with Gratitude for Being on Field

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama safety Keon Sabb said this past Saturday that he initially got hurt before last season's Tennessee game, when he went down with a season-ending foot injury, but "just wanted to be out there for my teammates."

The Crimson Tide defense might've been in worse shape without the Michigan transfer had Bray Hubbard not stepped in and made a serious mark in the defensive backfield. Hubbard starred in Sabb's stead, something that didn't surprise the latter.

"I think it was expected," Sabb said. "At Alabama, in our DB room, it doesn't matter who's gonna step up next. We're all gonna be ready... [He] showed the world what he can do."

Regardless of how well Hubbard played, the veteran Sabb had to sit out during a critical stretch run of the regular season. Alabama lost the Tennessee game, then flopped in a decisive dud at Oklahoma the next month to effectively eliminate it from playoff contention.

The redshirt junior did not say in which game specifically he first hurt himself. The rough timeline he gave, a week or two before facing the Volunteers, indicates that it was either the Vanderbilt game on Oct. 5 or the South Carolina game on Oct. 12. Alabama played Tennessee Oct. 19, ultimately Sabb's last game of 2024 after he'd logged two picks and 39 tackles.

All that is now in the past. Sabb is back, progressing nicely, and signs point to him being fully ready for what the 2025 campaign might bring from a physical standpoint. On Saturday, he said he felt "really good," and really close to being in game shape for the fall.

"I think he's ahead of really every marker we had in the offseason for him. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to go to the level he's going right now at the beginning of fall camp, but he is. He's here," defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Saturday.

Sabb gives plenty of credit to head athletic trainer Jeff Allen and the medical staff for getting him ready to go. He said the same thing about Allen's efforts in helping him be able to play leading up to the fateful Tennessee contest, which he described as "the last straw" for his injury.

"It's really just been all smiles," he said. "Really grateful to be out there with my teammates... It was a little tough [to be sidelined]. Going from my old life, I've always been on the field or on a court or something, always playing a sport. So, this was the first time, me being down."

Gratefulness is one element of Sabb's experience of late, but it's not the only component to his motivations. Like a couple of players on last year's squad, Sabb could have elected to go pro. He wants to taste a national title again, having done it at Michigan already.

"I didn't accomplish what I wanted to. As a team, I feel like we didn't accomplish what we wanted to," Sabb said. "We fell short. And I feel like this year, with the amount of guys that we brought back, it's a really good chance, and that's what we're striving to do."

He sees the defense taking that next step, starting August 30 at Florida State, to be able to do what it needs to and further those national championship ambitions. Though Sabb was not keen to reveal all of the details of what that looks like, his confidence is readily apparent alongside his happiness to be back.

"Just gonna have to wait, game one, and see," Sabb said. "Y'all gonna see it. I promise."