Former Florida Defensive lineman Kelby Collins has committed to it Alabama. Collins spent two seasons in Gainesville, but returned to his home state and decided to continue his college career with the Crimson Tide. A nice win for the head coach Kalen DeBoer as he plans to hit that NCAA Transfer Portal tough this offseason.

Collins has two years of eligibility remaining. Last season there were only six appearances in which there were six tackles. Collins was more productive as a true freshman, playing in 12 games with 23 tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and sacks, four quarterback hurries, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. Those numbers were enough to get him named to the Freshman All-SEC team.

Alabama will welcome Collins into a room that needs some depth and quality ahead of the 2025 season. Its exact location in Tuscaloosa is not yet known, a location has yet to be found Kane Wommack‘s defense. Florida placed Collins on both the inside and outside of the EDGE at times.

Collins’ development will continue at Alabama and hopefully result in numbers more similar to the 2023 season. The hope is that he can keep up with the rankings coming out of high school, which were a hot commodity not long ago.

Alabama was in the midst of recruiting Collins, who was fresh out of high school. Nick Saban was still in charge of the program and wanted to keep the in-state prospect at home. Even so, Billy NapierThe ‘s workforce was able to achieve a tremendous victory at that time. Georgia was also involved, meaning the SEC’s powers were in circulation.

Two years later, things may have come full circle. Collins will eventually play for Alabama and potentially finish his career there.

Collins played high school football Gardendale (AL) High School, where he was a four-star prospect. Accordingly, he was the 45th overall recruit in the 2023 cycle On3 industry rankinga weighted average that takes into account all four major recruiting media companies.