Former Michigan football safety Keon Sabb had his second-best game, according to Pro Football Focus, in the national championship game against the Washington Huskies.
With both Rod Moore and Makari Paige having decided to come back to the Wolverines for another year, Sabb made the decision to not be a rotational player and look elsewhere. He surprised by entering the transfer portal last week. Apparently, he got then-head coach of the Huskies, Kalen DeBoer’s attention with his play in the final game of the 2023 season.
DeBoer took over Alabama and saw a mass exodus of players, including star safety Caleb Downs, who transferred to Ohio State. Enter Sabb, who reportedly has transferred to the Crimson Tide.
Michigan safety Keon Sabb is transferring to Alabama, sources confirm to @tuscaloosanews. He’s enrolled and on campus. @AaronSuttles of @yea_ala was first
— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) February 20, 2024
Michigan fans certainly held out hope that new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and secondary coach LaMar Morgan could have convinced him to stay, but given that he likely wouldn’t have seen starters minutes with Moore and Paige coming back, it makes sense that he would look elsewhere. And though Alabama will have similar issues with a new head coach, with the vacancy left by Downs, Sabb will have an opportunity to see much more playing time in his junior season.
Sabb originally committed to Clemson and was a five-star at the time. However, just before early signing day in 2022, he flipped to the maize and blue. He saw little playing time in year one but with injuries at the safety position early in 2023, he saw the field early and often — until Moore and Paige both returned at full strength. Still, he was an integral part of former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s plan against the Huskies’ vaunted pass offense and it tracks that DeBoer would covet him after seeing what he did to his former team.