Alabama's Bray Hubbard, Keon Sabb Have Mindset Geared Toward Turnovers

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football safeties Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb had not shared a defensive backfield prior to the 2025 campaign. When Sabb got hurt last fall, Hubbard stepped in and solidified himself. The pair now comprises the two starting safety spots, places they occupy ahead of the No. 9 Crimson Tide's Rose Bowl date with No. 1 Indiana on Jan. 1 in the College Football Playoff.

Sabb and Hubbard are two of three defensive players for Alabama (11-3) to record 700-plus snaps this year. Sophomore cornerback Zabien Brown is the other. Neither safety had the luxury of extended full-season action in 2024, Sabb due to injury and Hubbard because he hadn't gotten his opportunity yet at the beginning of last season.

"Those guys, you typically don't rotate quite as much with the safety position. Those guys are making all the calls, all the communications," defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Sunday. "They do a really tremendous job of just being in the right place at the right time. They're the last line of defense."

That role comes under a magnifying glass where the Crimson Tide's next test is concerned, because the Hoosiers' offense is led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Hubbard and Sabb have five 2025 interceptions and plenty of shared reps against top-flight SEC quarterbacks between them, including opposite Heisman runner-up Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt, whom Sabb picked off on Oct. 4.

"It's been awesome to watch both of those guys grow and develop into the position that they have. Bray Hubbard wasn't playing for us at the beginning of the 2024 season," Wommack said. "Now, arguably, I mean, I would argue he's as good as any safety in the country right now. Keon Sabb has built himself in [a] position to be as good as any safety in the country right now."

Whatever happens on New Year's Day, it won't be Sabb's first trip to Pasadena. The redshirt junior played in the 2024 game against Alabama as a member of the Michigan Wolverines. That Michigan team won the national championship after defeating the Crimson Tide in Nick Saban's last game as a head coach. Sabb views this season's quarterfinal contest as a new opportunity with his teammates, especially since he wasn't able to play any games last year after Tennessee in mid-October.

"Every game, we feel like we have a[n] opportunity to take the ball off those guys," Sabb said. "They did a really good job taking care of the ball, so we'll just have to do our part... I feel like we have good players. I feel like we can take the ball off them. Especially tackles and stuff like that. Being able to punch on the ball with the ball carriers."

Wommack sees that mentality in his defense's safeties. Hubbard, a junior, has it too. His four interceptions lead the Crimson Tide, and he's tied with Wolf linebacker Yhonzae Pierre for the team high in forced fumbles (three). Indiana (13-0) has only surrendered eight turnovers all season long. Six of those eight are interceptions thrown by Mendoza, who turned the football over in five of six games from Sept. 27 through Nov. 8.

"As a tandem and a duo, I think they're [Sabb and Hubbard] playing at a really high level. One that I think they have a mindset to take the ball away. They do a great job of communicating on the back end," Wommack said. "A large part of [defensive execution] is just being in the right place at the right time, and those guys get us in the right place at the right time."

Alabama and Indiana, two programs which have never played one another in football before, are set to kick off at 3 p.m. CT on Jan. 1. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN, with the winner receiving a semifinal berth in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Jan. 9.

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