Alabama football countdown to kickoff: 47 days

If you can believe it, we are officially under the 50-day mark until Alabama is back on a live-game football field. After coming up short in the national championship game against Georgia back in early January, the Crimson Tide will once again be searching for its seventh title under Nick Saban.

This year’s season opener will be against the Utah State Aggies on Sept. 3 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

With today being July 18, that means we are only 47 days away from the return of Alabama football. The team here at BamaOn3 is ready to celebrate every day of the countdown standing between now and the start of football season. Let’s focus on a player — both past and present — who represents — or has represented — the No. 47.

*Note: BamaOn3 is also doing a Countdown to Fall Camp, which is only 18 days away.

Who currently wears the No. 47?

There are currently two players wearing the No. 47 for Alabama. The first is tight end Peyton Fox, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound walk-on freshman out of Pelham (Ala.) Brianwood Christian. Of course, the other player is rising senior defensive lineman Byron Young.

Young has been contributing to Alabama’s defensive front for the past three seasons.

He’s played 978 snaps in 41 games with 13 starts, including seven in 2021. So far, a lot of Young’s impact has come as a run defender, but there are some promising traits here that leads us to believe that he can take a step forward as an interior pass rusher.

Coming out of Laurel (Miss.) West Jones in 2019, Young was a four-star recruit who checked in as the No. 89 player nationally, No. 12 defensive lineman and No. 6 player from the state of Mississippi, per the On3 Consensus rankings. He chose Alabama over LSU, Ole Miss and several others.

Who’s a noteworthy former player to wear it?

Christian Miller wore the No. 47 for Alabama from 2014-18. After redshirting his freshman season, the South Carolina native steadily saw his role increase over the next four years. Overall, he played 679 snaps in 33 games with four starts.

Despite only technically starting four games, he was considered a full-time first-team player at outside linebacker during his fifth and final season in Tuscaloosa. In fact, he was also expected to be a much bigger part of the defense in 2017, but an injury limited him to just 86 snaps in four games.

In his career, Miller accumulated 56 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks to go along with two pass deflections. Of those, 34 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks came during his senior season. That was good enough to get him drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fourth round (No. 115 overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Miller only played one season for the franchise before choosing to opt out in 2020. Almost 13 months after that decision, he was waived and hasn’t been on an NFL roster since.

2022 Alabama Football Schedule

Sept. 3 vs. Utah State Aggies (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Sept. 10 at Texas Longhorns (Austin, Tex.)

Sept. 17 vs. UL-Monroe Warhawks (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Sept. 24 vs. Vanderbilt Commodores (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Oct. 1 at Arkansas Razorbacks (Fayetteville, Ark.)

Oct. 8 vs. Texas A&M Aggies (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Oct. 15 at Tennessee Volunteers (Knoxville, Tenn.)

Oct. 22 vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Oct. 29 – OPEN WEEK

Nov. 5 at LSU Tigers (Baton Rouge, La.)

Nov. 12 at Ole Miss Rebels (Oxford, Miss.)

Nov. 19 vs. Austin Peay Governors (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Nov. 26 vs. Auburn Tigers (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Dec. 3 – SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (Atlanta, Ga.)