Bray Hubbard embracing new role in Alabama's secondary after teammate's injury

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama is going to be down a man in the secondary for a little while, after head coach Kalen DeBoer announced yesterday that starting safety Keon Sabb will be missing time with a lower extremity injury. With Sabb out, the Crimson Tide now turns to Bray Hubbard, a sophomore who’s ready to embrace his larger role.

Sabb was already banged up entering last week’s game at Tennessee, being listed on the injury report throughout the week, and aggravated that injury against the Vols. Sabb ended up only playing 30 snaps in the game, while Hubbard logged 51, the sixth-most on the defense.

Hubbard performed well, earning praise from DeBoer in his Monday press conference. Statistically, he recorded the second-most tackles on the team with nine.

“I feel like I played pretty well,” Hubbard said. “There’s always things I can clean up better on my side just to help my team out, but overall I think I played pretty well.”

Hubbard came to Alabama as a freshman last season, and originally was a two-way player. He played quarterback in high school, but settled on defensive back as his college position. His experience at quarterback is something that aids him in different ways when it comes to playing safety.

“It’s definitely been a challenge, but you’ve got to be up for a challenge, always,” Hubbard said. “Playing offense in high school to now playing defense here, its awesome. I can’t complain. Playing quarterback, you can – the quarterback’s gonna give you tells on what he’s gonna do, especially when you’re playing the post, he’s gonna give you something. I know that just from playing quarterback.”

Having been strictly a special teams player, he’s now set to take on a much larger responsibility. Hubbard has one thing in mind with his approach.

“Just do my best, do whatever my teammates need me to do,” Hubbard said. “Just prepare the best and be there for my teammates. I don’t want to let them down.”

Make no mistake about it, losing Sabb hurts this Alabama defense. Sabb has been one of the better players in Alabama’s secondary this season, drawing compliments from DeBoer with a number of his performances this year. He’s tied for the team lead in interceptions with two, and has the third most pass breakups on the team with four this season.

“Keon, man, we’re boys,” Hubbard said. “We always talk on and off the field, just what we see during games, during practice. Whether I’m coming off the field in practice, what he sees. We’re just always communicating what we see to make each other better every day.”

Hubbard said Sabb has given him plenty of encouragement since his injury, and has given him a constant message:

“Just go out and do your thing. That’s always what it is,” Hubbard said. “We’ve got each other’s backs, so that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Hubbard was a part of head coach Nick Saban‘s final secondary unit last year, and when that room was completely thinned by the transfer portal following Saban’s retirement, Hubbard chose to stay. He cited Saban’s famed ‘process’ as the primary reason for his return to Tuscaloosa, even without the legendary head coach on the sidelines.

“Just stay focused. It’s the process,” Hubbard said. “Even when Coach Saban was here, it’s the process. They’re gonna build you to be the best you can be, so keep stacking days and keep going with the process.”