Breaking down timeline of Kadyn Proctor return to Alabama

Kadyn Proctor is reversing his decision to transfer to Iowa and rejoining Kalen DeBoer at Alabama. The former Five-Star Plus+ offensive tackle was in Iowa City for around two months. A spring break trip with Crimson Tide players proved to be enough to flip him back and play in the SEC in 2024.

When monitoring the story, Tim Watts of On3’s BOL did not think much of Proctor hanging out with former teammates. The Justice Haynes and Caleb Downs recruitment out of Buford High School was a reason why. Those two would wind up in Athens consistently despite being considered solid commits to Alabama.

“You get so numb to everything,” Watts said. “Because we’ve covered Justice Haynes, for instance. Several times, Justice Haynes or Caleb Downs would go to Georgia, where they’re from, where their parents lived. Sometimes, they’d end up on the University of Georgia campus where they have friends and teammates. So people would start up the transfer rumor

“So, when we saw that Kadyn Proctor was hanging out with a former teammate at the beach and they were working out together, you just thought that was friends being friends.”

Downs and Haynes stayed true to their commitment at the time, never flipping from Alabama. Of course, Downs left once Nick Saban retired and will finish out his college career with Ohio State.

Proctor’s story was a little different though, with the rumors beginning to circulate on Monday. Before Watts knew it, the announcement was coming to fruition quite quickly.

“Monday, the first time when I was asked ‘Have you heard anything about Kadyn Proctor transferring?’ We went straight to ‘Yeah, I’ll dig into it, I’ll look.’ And then yesterday, I was at lunch with Andrew Bone, it was probably 11 a.m. and it really started to pop off… ‘This could be something that’s happening.’ We’re preparing for it and then a few hours later, I think the Iowa end leaked it all out.”

Alabama will welcome Proctor back with open arms. DeBoer was going to need an offensive tackle either way, having to replace Proctor and JC Latham — who is off to the NFL Draft. Now Alabama may not have to dip into the NCAA transfer portal for somebody knew, having a left tackle secured moving forward.

“Kadyn Proctor is a big-time player,” Watts said. “Of course, [Iowa] tried to keep him and of course, Alabama would like to have him back. But didn’t have this on the bingo card for Tuesday. Didn’t have it in the middle of March, didn’t have that coming down the pipe.”