Alabama has been without fifth-year guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. since November 30. Wrightsell suffered a ruptured Achilles during the Crimson Tide’s 83-81 loss to Oregon in the championship of the Player’s Era Tournament.

Wrightsell was having a bright start to his second season in Tuscaloosa, appearing in eight games with five starts and averaging 11.5 points and two assists per game. He was an instrumental part in the Tide’s Final Four run last season, playing in 31 games with 12 starts and averaging 8.9 points while shooting 44.7% from 3-point range.

Though Wrightsell's season came to an unfortunate end, Alabama is planning for Wrightsell to get a medical redshirt, giving him the chance to return for Alabama next season. This season was supposed to be his fifth and final year at the college level.

Wrightsell is working diligently to make a full recovery from his injury. The veteran guard joined Chris Stewart on “Hey Coach” on Monday and shared how his rehab has progressed.

“I do a lot of pool workouts right now to take a lot of weight off my Achilles,” Wrightsell said. “Normally I spend about an hour in the pool just doing a lot of therapy, squats, getting back right with walking and stuff like that on the treadmill. And then we just go to the training room and do a lot of BFR (Blood flow restriction) stuff, a lot of stuff on the table. Not really putting pressure on my Achilles like that. So it’s still getting used to walking and stuff like that.

“I do that for an hour and half and then I do an upper body lift, and then I go back in with [Alabama trainer Clarke Holter]. So it’s about 5-6 hours of rehab a day, and it’s been a long process, but I think it’s helped out a lot.”

Wrightsell praised Holter for helping him through both his Achilles rehab and the concussions he suffered last season which caused him to miss a few regular season games and Alabama’s NCAA Tournament matchups against North Carolina and Clemson. Wrightsell also gave a shoutout to his mom, who was in attendance during his “Hey Coach” segment and has been with Wrightsell since his surgery on Dec. 4. He said his strong faith, family and support from the Alabama staff has helped him through the early part of the rehab process.

“I trusted in them and I’m still trusting in them and I believe they have what’s best for me,” Wirghtsell said. “And also they believe in me to come in every day and work and just putting in that work and knowing that in basketball and life, you have to work at something to get good at it. So I’ve just been putting in a lot of work and trusting what everybody else has to say.”

In addition to his rehab, Wrightsell is also serving as a defacto "coach" along with fellow injured guard Houston Mallette. Wrightsell said that experience has helped him gain another perspective on basketball and he's enjoyed helping his teammates navigate a difficult campaign through the SEC from the sidelines.

“It’s a different feeling," Wrightsell said. "It’s definitely fun because it shows you the other side of the spectrum of playing. You’re normally all into it, but now you can see it on a deeper level and really slow down things — really see things that you might not see as a basketball player. You can see them from a coaches perspective and see what they’re seeing, and then understanding it, and it gives me a better understanding as an athlete.

“So being able to hype up my teammates, show them love and then them be able to reciprocate that back to me even though I’m not playing, it’s been fun. It’s been a journey — obviously every day grind. And then being able to just see people’s smiles on their faces for just doing good. I always like to see people succeed. That’s a big thing for me. So being able to see all my teammates succeed and just have fun out there and play. It’s just all love because we grew this together as a whole from the start of the season and we haven’t broken it since. So it’s just been fun to just be able there on the side and just watch them work and see all the hard work they put in.”

As Wrightsell continues to work his way back for next season, Alabama will continue navigating the home stretch of SEC play against No. 24 Mississippi State on Tuesday. The Tide and Bulldogs will face off at 8 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.