Alabama men’s basketball is expected to add another reinforcement.

South Florida transfer Chris Youngblood, who has not yet played due to an ankle injury, is on track to make his debut for the Crimson Tide on Saturday (7:30 p.m., SEC Network) against Creighton

“Chris has been practicing, still on a limited basis,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday. “We didn’t let him do everything. I would expect him to play a few minutes. As long as… it’s not just about whether his ankle is right. He didn’t get hard. His whole body has to prepare for the game. He had a little hiccup. He was able to take something with him today. As long as he recovers well from today, I expect him to play limited minutes tomorrow.”

Youngblood is from Tuscaloosa. In college, he played for Kennesaw State before transferring to South Florida. There he was named AAC co-player of the year in the 2023/24 season.

Youngblood is a 6-4, 223-pound graduate student.

Youngblood underwent ankle surgery before the season. Oats said back in September that he expected Youngblood to hit 100% in conference play.

“It will be great to actually get him some reps,” Oats said. “Hopefully he’ll feel comfortable enough in this game and then the next three games before the SEC games start that he’ll be fully involved by the time the SEC games start, which is actually the original plan. “We don’t want it exaggerate. As long as everything looks good after today’s training, we will evaluate him tomorrow morning. To me it looks like he’s playing.”

Nick Kelly is a beat writer from Alabama AL.com and Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X And Instagram.