Notes from Alabama's updated online roster

With spring camp set to start next month, Alabama has updated its online roster to include its 26 early enrollees. The new arrivals include 22 freshmen, two junior college transfers and a pair of transfers from the portal. There have also been some new walk-ons added to the mix.

Alabama hasn’t assigned new numbers for the coming season, and players’ heights and weights have yet to be updated from last year. Here are a few other items of note from the update.

Along with the new faces, Alabama is also welcoming back a pair of seniors in center Darrian Dalcourt and defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe. Both players were included in the roster update after their status for the coming season was previously in question.

Dalcourt is back for his fifth year thanks to the COVID-19 blanket waiver. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound offensive lineman was limited to just seven games last season due to injuries but recorded five starts over that span. According to Pro Football Focus, he earned a 77.5 run-blocking grade and a 74.9 pass-blocking mark.

Dalcourt has started 16 games over 33 appearances in his four seasons at Alabama. He will compete with senior Seth McLaughlin for the starting role at center this year.

Eboigbe has logged 14 starts over 41 games over the past four years but was limited to just four games last season due to a neck injury. Because of the injury, he will have two years of eligibility remaining if he elects to take advantage of his COVID year.

Two of Alabama’s new faces will go by different names. Five-star freshman cornerback Desmond Ricks has shortened his first name to Dezz, while freshman offensive lineman RyQueze McElderry changed his name completely and will now go by Roq Montgomery. Sophomore running back Jamarion Miller is also switching things up, shortening his first name to Jam.

Alabama is adding a former Marine in walk-on tight end Colby McNeal. The Colorado State transfer will turn 27 in May and spent six years of active service in the Marines following high school, serving as an aviation electrician and crew chief on a V-22 Osprey.

McNeal, a Dothan, Alabama native, is listed as a redshirt sophomore. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end has yet to feature at the college level.