Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.

The name does a lot of work here. His father, Dre Kirkpatrick, was an All-American corner at Alabama and a first-round NFL pick, and the junior carries the bloodline into a secondary that doesn't have an obvious spot for him. The 2025 story overwhelmed the football: arrested in early November on reckless-endangerment and eluding charges after a high-speed drive down University Boulevard, suspended indefinitely by Kalen DeBoer the same weekend, and as of December still on the outside with "nothing that has changed," per DeBoer. The receipts on the field are thin — two seasons, roughly 20 games, a forced fumble and a pass breakup to show for it.

Then the quiet part: he's on the 2026 roster. DeBoer told reporters this spring that Kirkpatrick "met those requirements" to return, praised his attitude, and stressed he'll "do the things not just on the field, but off it as well to meet the standard our program expects." That's a coach choosing to reopen a door, and Alabama message boards have spent the offseason litigating whether the second chance is earned or just deference to the surname. A-Day put him back in pads, in the husky/safety rotation but stuck behind Red Morgan — who locked the job down late last year — and redshirt freshman Chuck McDonald.

So the forward stake is small in stature and loud in subtext: the name is national, the role is a backup pushing for snaps. 2026 is the year Kirkpatrick has to convert a reinstatement into reps.