Former Alabama defensive back Earl Little Jr. didn’t have fighting words when asked about facing his old team as a member of the Florida State Seminoles.
But during ACC Media Days in Charlotte on Wednesday, Little wasn’t exactly leaving the elephant in the middle of the room alone. Little was mainly a special teams player for the Crimson Tide in 2022 and 2023, missing the first half of the 2022 season with an injury. He was an impact special teams player the following season in Tuscaloosa before transferring to FSU for the 2024 season.
Little recorded 15 tackles, 10 of them solo, and 1 sack last season in his debut year with the Seminoles.
Tradition-rich programs like Alabama and FSU aren’t far apart geographically, but they very rarely come together on the field. But that’s exactly what’s going to happen in the season opener in a little over a month, when Alabama begins Year 2 under Kalen DeBoer with a showdown at Florida State. The Aug. 30 matchup is a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC, so Little will face his old program on the national TV stage in front of his home crowd.
On Wednesday, Little touched on the rapidly approaching game.
“I don’t find it as anything extra. But it’s definitely gonna be fun for the guy. I’m excited for a new challenge,” said Little, who is 1 of 2 former Alabama players on FSU’s current roster.
Come late August, the programs who rarely meet will find each other at long last, and Little will see that very familiar uniform on the other sideline.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
