Alabama basketball staffer breaks down big man position on 2025-26 roster
Alabama basketball’s guards typically get all the attention in an up-tempo style of play like what Nate Oats runs, but the bigs are still quite important to the team’s success. The ability to rebound on both ends of the floor, protect the rim, set ball screens, and even stretch the floor as a shooter are all important roles bigs play in Oats’ system, and the 2025-26 Alabama roster still has some questions to be answered regarding that unit.
Last season’s top center, Cliff Omoruyi, has exhausted his eligibility and is off to play professional basketball. Omoruyi played most of Alabama’s minutes at the five last season, followed by forward Grant Nelson, who’s also out of eligibility and moving on with his career.
To fill the void left by those two, the Crimson Tide has a few options. The first and most obvious is Aiden Sherrell, now a sophomore after playing limited minutes his freshman season. He added 15 pounds of weight in the offseason, and looks to build on the potential he flashed at various points throughout his first year of college basketball.
Alongside Sherrell the staff made two additions, one transfer and one freshman The transfer is 7-footer Noah Williamson, who was named the Patriot League player of the year at Bucknell last season while averaging 17.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. The freshman was a late addition in Collins Onyejiaka, an absolute behemoth of a player listed at 6-foot-11 and 265 pounds, having reclassified and joined the team over the summer.
Joining the ‘Hey Coach’ radio show on Wednesday night, special assistant to the head coach Erwin Dudley discussed the big men on the upcoming roster.
Top 10
- 1New
CFB General Managers
Top 25 highest paid
- 2
Whit Weeks
Initial status vs. Texas A&M revealed
- 3Hot
SEC ref suspended
Reportedly permanently
- 4
'Everything was no'
Dan Mullen on Florida resources
- 5Trending
Deuce Alexander
Ole Miss reveal status vs. OU
Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
“We got some guys in this year that actually can score and can mix it up, throw their body around,” Dudley said. “We got a big kid, Collins, he’s actually bigger than what I was when I played. For a freshman, he’s real solid. Him and then you still have Aiden Sherrell. He’s healthy, he’s coming back around, he’s been doing well in practice. Then we have Noah Williamson, too, who we brought in from Bucknell. We’re looking for him to also have a big year for us.”
Dudley played for Alabama from 1999-2003 and was named the 2002 SEC player of the year. He’s one of the best bigs in program history and played 13 years of professional basketball overseas before joining the staff as a graduate assistant a few years ago, being promoted to his current position over the summer.
As a member of the staff he’s able to work closely with the Crimson Tide bigs and aid in their development, which he believes is key to the team’s success.
“Our bigs, we go as far as our bigs. That’s how I look at it,” Dudley said. “We’ve got really good guards, probably some of the best in the country. But our bigs, we have to step up our level of play.”
Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!
Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $11.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting, and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!
