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Alabama DB Jaylen Mbakwe, former 5-star recruit, reportedly entering transfer portal
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Alabama is reportedly losing one of its top freshmen to the transfer portal.
According to multiple reports, Jaylen Mbakwe will look at playing elsewhere in 2025. AL.com’s Nick Kelly was first to report that Mbakwe was entering the NCAA transfer portal.
As a true freshman, Mbakwe made 11 appearances for the Crimson Tide. He logged 15 total tackles, including 12 solo stops and a TFL. In coverage, Mbakwe recorded 2 pass breakups and 1 interception. Mbakwe also added 2 punt returns for 46 yards.
Out of Pinson (Alabama) Clay-Chalkville High School, Mbakwe was a prized signee in Alabama’s 2024 recruiting class. On the 247Sports Composite, Mbakwe was rated 5-stars, the No. 2 cornerback, No. 3 player in the state of Alabama and No. 12 recruit overall nationally in the Class of 2024. Mbakwe drew widespread interest, picking up scholarship offers from 29 programs, including Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and USC.
In his original recruitment, Mbakwe was most interested in staying close to home, committing to the Crimson Tide in 2022. In 2023, he only took official visits to Auburn and Alabama. He followed through on that verbal pledge and signed with Alabama in December 2023, remaining at UA through the coaching change following Nick Saban’s retirement. College football fans everywhere will be interested to see where he lands next.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
