No. 1 College Football RB Prospect Listed as 'Freshman Facing Pressure'

The top-rated 2026 college football running back prospect has been labeled as a 'freshman facing pressure.'

Dec 6, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Cherokee County's Dylan Duncan (51) pursues Jackson's Ezavier Crowell (13) at Protective Stadium in the AHSAA 4A State Championship game. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The introduction of the NCAA transfer portal to college football has inadvertently created challenges for freshmen looking for quick paths to the field.

The passage of NIL in the summer of 2021 legalized the payment of college football players, and the NCAA transfer portal has become a vessel for players to find more lucrative NIL compensation. Add in the fact that recent national championship contenders are the teams that heavily utilize the portal, and the odds of major programs leaning on coveted freshmen grow lower.

However, many Power Four programs will still turn to incoming freshmen in areas of need during the 2026 season. One of those programs is Alabama, which will look to running back Ezavier Crowell to boost its rushing attack.

The 5-foot-11, 205-pounder reclassified from the class of 2027 after rushing for 6,333 yards, 91 touchdowns over the course of three seasons at Jackson High School in Jackson, Alabama. 247Sports rated Crowell as a five-star prospect and ranked him as the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2026.

Jackson's Ezavier Crowell (13) breaks a long touchdown run on the Aggies' first possession against Cherokee County at Protective Stadium | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Crowell's arrival at Alabama comes at a time when the Crimson Tide desperately needs him. 2025 featured one of Alabama's worst rushing outputs over the past 25 seasons.

The Crimson Tide has not boasted a 1,000-yard rusher since Brian Robinson Jr. in 2021, a jarring reality for a program that saw a pair of running backs win the Heisman Trophy in Mark Ingram II and Derrick Henry within the last 20 seasons.

Jam Miller declared for the 2026 NFL draft at the conclusion of the 2025 season. Alabama did not lose much of its 2025 running back room to the transfer portal, although Richard Young transferred to Colorado.

Eli Lederman of ESPN unveiled a list of the college football freshmen under the most pressure heading into the 2026 season on Wednesday. Crowell was the third player Lederman named on his list.

"Crowell has long been viewed as a potential Day 1 contributor at the next level; 'We're thinking of him being a guy who can help us,' Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of him in December," Lederman wrote.

"But Crowell's potential role within the Crimson Tide's 2026 running back room swelled in January when Texas swooped in to sign transfer rusher Hollywood Smothers away from Alabama, leaving Daniel Hill (96 career carries) as the program's most experienced backfield option."

The Crimson Tide's 2026 non-conference schedule is headlined by its rematch with Florida State, a program it lost to at the beginning of the 2025 season. Alabama faces a pair of College Football Playoff participants from a season ago in Georgia and Texas A&M. Of Alabama's nine SEC games, four are against teams that finished 2025 with a losing record.

Cherokee County's Tristan Brown (4) tries to hang on for a tackle as Jackson's Ezavier Crowell (13) pulls away at Protective Stadium | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images