Bama Football Roster Update

It's been a while, but you can't avoid the sting forever.  It seems that not all the faces from the all-star signing class of 2014 will be making it to Tuscaloosa this fall.  According to an AL.com report, unfortunately offensive lineman signee Montel McBride has failed to qualify academically and will be seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

AL.com has learned that Montel McBride, an offensive lineman who signed with Alabama in February, has failed to academically qualify to enroll at UA and will start his career in junior college.

The 6-foot-4, 329-pound McBride, a Plant City, Fla., native, has signed with Iowa Western Community College, according to Iowa Western head coach Scott Strohmeier. McBride committed to Iowa Western on Monday and sent the school his letter of intent on Tuesday afternoon.

Montel is a heck of a guard prospect, and the only thing that can really be said about this situation is we wish him the best of luck and hope he gets his academic affairs in order and manages to make it back to Tuscaloosa.

As much as it stinks to lose a prime recruit before he ever gets the chance to don crimson, there is one area where the loss doesn't hurt - scholarship count.  In the past several weeks, the team has already lost Parker McLeod and Brandon Hill.  With McBride now out of the equation, our scholarship watch count stands at 86 (see chart below).

So the watch is on.  Fall camp opens up in a few days and the list is one person too wide to fit through the door.

So who will be the one?

Well, for starters, we haven't gotten confirmation yet that Bo Scarborough has qualified academically.  It's possible that he has qualified but just hasn't enrolled, but to my knowledge there has been no confirmation that this is the case.  With the start of camp a breath away, one would have to consider this situation to be at least mildly disconcerting.

If Bo does in fact make it in, then I think the most logical next candidate would be Alec Morris.  As the 4th or 5th string quarterback, he doesn't even figure to be a significant scout team contributor, and coach Saban's comments at SEC Media Days seemed to imply that Morris had lost the competition to be the punter this year.

When will we know?

Depends.  If Bo doesn't qualify, that news could break any minute.  If he does qualify, then don't expect to hear anything until the first day of fall camp.  We'll know the name when the reporters collectively turn to each other and say "Hey... where's [PLAYER X]?"