Josh Cuevas injury update: Alabama TE's status vs. Oklahoma revealed in CFP's Thursday availability report

The 2025 College Football Playoff kicks off at 8 p.m. ET Friday inside Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with the first-round matchup between No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2) and No. 9 Alabama (10-3). It’s a rematch of their regular-season meeting Nov. 15, which the Sooners won 23-21 in Tuscaloosa.

Oklahoma and fourth-year head coach Brent Venables have won two straight against the Crimson Tide and second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer, including a dominating 24-3 victory last season in Norman that effectively doomed Alabama’s CFP chances in 2024. The Sooners hold a 5-2-1 advantage in the all-time series between the budding SEC rivals.

But before the first-round of the College Football Playoff begins this weekend, the CFP is releasing availability reports “to promote the integrity of competition, the wellbeing of student-athletes and institutional staff, and public transparency” beginning Tuesday.

This is the first season the CFP has implemented a policy requiring participating programs to accurately disclose player availability statuses to the public, via a standardized availability report. All participating programs are required to submit availability reports designating whether a player is “available,” “probable,” “questionable,” “doubtful,” or “out” by 8 pm ET three days prior to their Playoff game, with daily updates leading to a final report released 90 minutes prior to kickoff.

No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners

• DB Gentry Williams – Out
• DB Kendel Dolby – Out
• DB Jeremiah Newcombe – Out
• DL Troy Everett – Out
• OL Jake Maikkula – Doubtful

No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide

• DB Kameron Howard – Out
• LB Jah-Marien Latham – Out
• DB Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. – Out
• EDGE LT Overton – Out
• RB Kevin Riley – Out
• DL Jeremiah Beaman – Out
• TE Josh Cuevas – Probable
• TE Danny Lewis Jr. – Probable

Alabama fans received welcomed news on Tuesday when a pair of key starters — senior running back Jam Miller and junior center Parker Brailsford — were absent from the team’s initial availability report. More good news came Wednesday when ailing tight ends Josh Cuevas and Danny Lewis Jr. were upgraded from questionable to probable on yesterday’s availability report.

That falls in line with how DeBoer spoke about Alabama’s walking wounded earlier in the week.

“Parker is doing good, he’s been practicing,” DeBoer said Monday. “Jam, he’s making good progress. Just kind of continue to see how the week goes along. You guys saw him out there doing some things today. Cuevas, very similar to Jam — making progress out there, doing some work. I guess, you’re optimistic at this point. … So, those guys are heading in a good direction, making good progress, and continue to evaluate them moving forward. But you saw them out there doing some things today in practice.”

The Sooners got their own welcomed news on Tuesday when starting defensive end R Mason Thomas (quad) was no longer listed on Oklahoma’s availability report after missing the team’s prior three games to close out the regular season. Meanwhile, Sooners starting center Jake Maikkula continued to be listed as “questionable” through the week’s first two availability reports while working his way back from an infection that forced him to sit out the regular-season finale against LSU.

“They’re two good players. They’re starters. Excellent players,” Venables said Saturday. “Jake touches the ball every snap. There’s a lot of impact and influence and things that guy does, and R Mason is one of the more explosive defensive players in the country. If they can play, they can play. If they can’t, they can’t. That’s football.”