Alabama 5-Star freshman taking limited reps with week-to-week injury

Alabama football’s freshman running back, EJ Crowell continues to be held back as the Crimson Tide continues spring practice.

DeBoer said Crowell is not taking a lot of reps after the Crimson Tide’s first spring scrimmage.

“I’d say it’s week to week,” DeBoer said. “It’s probably not day to day, but it’s week to week, so unfortunately.”

Crowell is a former five-star running back who signed with the Crimson Tide as a member of its 2026 recruiting class. He enrolled early in January.

Crowell’s high school head football coach Cody Flournoy recently saw the running back in action at one of Alabama’s practices and noted he was dealing with a calf injury. Ryan Grubb stated it was a soft-tissue injury earlier this month.

Flournoy shared he was still optimistic about Crowell’s immediate future, despite the injury.

“He looks really good,” Flournoy told Touchdown Alabama. “He’s gained some weight, and of course, they got him working in their program and everything. Talked with coach (Kalen) DeBoer earlier during the recruiting cycle, and he said that he just had to kind of come in and figure out how to play college ball. That’s the first time I got to see him. He looked good, looked like he belongs. I always tell people coming in and even now, whatever in your mind of what a tailback supposed to look like, that’s what he looks like.”