Tag: Chris Youngblood

Alabama transfer addition to reportedly miss time this season

The transfer addition will reportedly miss time this season.

According to Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats, transfer addition Chris Youngblood recently suffered an ankle injury that will cause him to miss some time this season. However, according to Oats, Youngblood will also be close to, if not, 100% by the start of SEC play in January.

In addition to Youngblood, Oats revealed that two freshmen – Derrion Reid and Naas Cunningham – are also dealing with minor injuries. Reid is dealing with a hand injury, and is considered as week-to-week, while Cunningham has a groin injury that is day-to-day.

An experienced wing, Youngblood came to Alabama in the offseason after transferring from South Florida where he spent the 2023-24 season. With the Bulls, Youngblood started 32-of-33 games a year ago to average 15.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG, and 2.1 APG, while also shooting 45.8% from the field, 41.6% from three, and 82.9% at the free throw line.

Likely to play a prominent role this upcoming season, Youngblood will certainly be missed early in the year by the Crimson Tide. However, the Crimson Tide still have the talent and depth on the roster to fill in the gap that Youngblood will leave early on, with names such as Aden Holloway, Houston Mallette, and Labaron Philon all names that could help so that.

Nate Oats provides injury update for star transfer portal addition

South Florida transfer Chris Youngblood had ankle surgery which will delay his debut with Alabama until SEC play.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are coming into the 2024-25 college basketball season among the favorites to cut down the nets at the conclusion of March Madness and the NCAA Tournament.

Nate Oats did reveal some unfortunate news about his team on Thursday though, stating that South Florida transfer guard Chris Youngblood had surgery on his ankle and will miss the start of the season.

Oats believes Youngblood will be back and at 100% health by the time conference play begins, which for Alabama starts on January 4th when the Tide host new SEC opponent Oklahoma.

The 6’4 sharpshooter is expected to play a big role for ‘Bama after averaging 15.3 points on 41.6% three point shooting last year at South Florida – his fourth straight college season averaging in double figures.

Oats once again built his roster around outside shooters, and the return of veteran guard Mark Sears, stretch four Grant Nelson, and guard Latrell Wrightstell gives this team plenty of continuity as they look to build on last year’s run to the Final Four.

Youngblood was one of many high profile additions Oats made via the transfer portal this offseason, including Pepperdine guard Houston Mallette, Auburn guard Aden Holloway, and Rutgers center Cliff Omoruyi.

Not having the 6’4 super senior to start the year is not ideal for the Crimson Tide, but his healthy return to the floor in January could jumpstart this season to another strong finish and deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Nate Oats complimentary of transfer portal addition Chris Youngblood

Nate Oats is excited about this Alabama basketball transfer portal addition

It has been a wild couple of months for [autotag]Nate Oats[/autotag] and the Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball team. After a historic run leading the Tide to its first-ever Final Four appearance, Coach Oats and his staff put together one of the best signing classes in the country from the high school ranks and via the NCAA transfer portal.

On Tuesday while speaking at an event for the Crimson Tide’s NIL collective, Yea Alabama, Coach Oats would give a glowing review of one of Alabama’s portal additions, South Florida guard Chris Youngblood.

“Shoot, Youngblood hasn’t been talked about enough, in my opinion. Johnell Davis is obviously a really good player,” Oats said. “Well, Youngblood was player of the year in that league, along with him. He’s a super talented player, and he’s from Tuscaloosa. He grew up in Tuscaloosa until high school when he moved over to the Atlanta area.”

Alabama is still waiting for star point guard Mark Sears to make his NBA draft decision (he has until May 29) but with the transfer of Rylan Griffen, Oats and the Tide need a big guard who can play physically.

“Youngblood gives us that tough, physical, versatile guard,” Oats said. “If you like to play four guards, he’s big, strong, physical, tough. You can play him more as a two [and] you can get really big across the board.”

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ESPN’s Way-Too-Early NCAAM top 25 ranks Alabama No. 6 in the country

Alabama ranked No. 6 in ESPN College Basketball Expert’s way-too-early top 25

While the NBA draft process may still be ongoing, the transfer portal window is closed and we can start to assess what teams are going to look like next year. For [autotag]Nate Oats[/autotag] and the Alabama Crimson Tide, it was a wildly successful spring as they landed four key transfers in Aden Holloway from Auburn, Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers, Chris Youngblood from USF and Houston Mallette from Pepperdine. Oats also earned a commitment from the No. 32 ranked player in the 2024 class in former Kansas commit Labaron Philon.

Grant Nelson announced his decision to return to the Crimson Tide next year, but we are still nervously waiting on a decision from Mark Sears. It sounds more likely than not that Sears, Alabama’s best player from a season ago, will be back in Tuscaloosa, but nothing is official yet. Freshman Jarin Stevenson also entered his name in the draft process, but we haven’t heard much about his status yet.

With one of the best coaches in the sport and a top two or three roster, the expectations will be high for Alabama coming off the programs first ever Final Four. In ESPN college basketball expert Jeff Borzello’s Way-Too-Early top 25, the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 6 in the country.

Borzello says of Alabama, “Nate Oats spent the first part of the offseason overhauling the perimeter group. Aaron Estrada, Rylan Griffen — and perhaps Mark Sears — are out the door, while Aden Holloway (Auburn), Chris Youngblood (South Florida) and Houston Mallette (Pepperdine) have arrived. The past couple of weeks, however, he’s been focused on the frontcourt, first getting starting forward Grant Nelson back and then beating out North Carolina for Rutgers transfer Clifford Omoruyi.”

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama basketball throughout the 2024 offseason.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.