Kalen DeBoer announces indefinite suspension for key defensive player
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The Alabama Crimson Tide secondary took a big hit over the weekend when sophomore defensive back Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. was arrested on multiple charges following a traffic stop during the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Tide were on a bye week, so Kirkpatrick wasn’t forced to miss a game over the weekend, but he will be missing some serious time moving forward, as second-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer announced on Monday that the team will be suspending Kirkpatrick indefinitely due to his arrest.
“Unfortunately, with the information I have at this time, we need to indefinitely suspend him,” DeBoer said during his Monday presser.
Kirkpatrick, who is the son of former Alabama standout and NFL veteran Dre Kirkpatrick, has been a key contributor for the Tide’s secondary all season long, appearing in all 8 games for the team so far.
Across those appearances, he has racked up 8 total tackles and has forced 1 fumble. His father, Dre Kirkpatrick Sr., played with the Tide from 2009 to 2011 and was a key part of Nick Saban‘s early dynasty at Alabama.
He went on to be drafted 17th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2012 NFL draft, and spent 10 seasons as a pro with 3 separate organizations.
Alabama is set to face LSU on Saturday.
