Two of Alabama’s best defensive backs elected to return to Alabama for another season and forgo the NFL draft, and it’s a pair of decisions that have Alabama’s defensive coordinator believing that success will follow.
Kane Wommack gave some insight into the process that led to veteran safeties Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb to return to Alabama for another season.
[](https://app.buildfire.com/promo/[SIG] Touchdown Enterprises)
“Well, those are the decisions that are made in January that affect us from September to next January hopefully, and those are some of the biggest wins in recruiting,” Wommack said. “We try to be very open with our players about what we think the best decision is for them, and we’re really fortunate we have such great connections with all NFL organizations that we get great feedback. We’re able to give them accurate information, and then, they make the best decision possible.”
These two have started games for Alabama in the past two seasons, but they are not the only returning starters. On top of Hubbard and Sabb returning, the Crimson Tide still has starting defensive backs like Zabien Brown, Red Morgan and Dijon Lee Jr.
With the core group of Alabama’s secondary room coming back to Tuscaloosa for one more season, Wommack thinks that Alabama history shows that multiple veterans returning for another year can lead to a lot of success.
“But you know, if you look over the past here, when you’ve had a grouping of guys that have kind of made that decision to come back as a group together, there’s typically been success to follow,” Wommack said. “It certainly puts us in a great position.”
Hubbard and Sabb received big reactions from their teammate Lee after the news broke that the two were coming back to Alabama. The 6-foot-4 corner talked to both of them before the decisions were made, and he called both of them up on the phone after the returns were made official.
“Whenever Bray returned, I called him,” Lee said. “I was jumping on the phone, and we was laughing, but you know, we had to get to work. And then Sabb, same thing pretty much. Just happy for them guys to be back.”
It sounds like Lee gave a great pitch to Hubbard and Sabb as he shared with media members that he told them that “we got a lot of returning pieces, a lot of new defensive linemen coming in, linebackers, it’s a whole new year. Let’s run it back.”
Lee, a sophomore corner, talked about how familiarity in the defensive back room is going to help a lot going into 2026.
“It means a lot,” Lee said. “We got Sabb, Bray, ZB, Red, all returning starters mostly, and you know, we kind of already know the playbook. We definitely know the playbook. We all know what to do and when and how to do it. We all communicate well, and it’s kind of just taking a bigger step this year into just trusting each other more. Last year, we had trust for each other, but this year, it’s on a whole different level for sure.”
Lee believes Alabama has the best secondary in the nation because of all the returning pieces, the chemistry between the returning pieces and the belief that the position group is very technical and tackles well. There’s no pressure on the shoulders of Lee as he believes things will happen if the unit can do their jobs and play together.
Matthew Mason is a writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine with three years of experience covering Alabama athletics. Mason, a junior at The University of Alabama, began covering Alabama athletics for The Crimson White in 2023 and became a Staff Writer in 2024 before joining TDA in May of 2025. Along with coverage of Alabama football, Mason creates video content for TDA's YouTube channel. Follow him on X at MatthewMason__