Well the big news yesterday was that Aden Holloway was arrested for marijuana.
With the NCAA tournament just days away, Alabama will likely be without one of its most important players.
Junior guard Aden Holloway was arrested Monday after authorities allegedly found over a pound of marijuana during a narcotics search at a Tuscaloosa residence, according to multiple sources.
Holloway, 21, was charged with first-degree possession of marijuana and failure to affix a tax stamp. Authorities also found drug paraphernalia and cash during the search.
Holloway was bonded out of Tuscaloosa County jail at 10:45 a.m. central time, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, with bond set at $5,000.
Now, when first seeing the headline you might think that this seemed a little overkill for a guy getting caught with weed in 2026. But the amount that he’s possessing here is enough to tranquilize an elephant, and the arrest is moreso about an intent to distribute – it’s a felony.
For Alabama’s part, the University pretty much immediately suspended him from campus.
Speaking on the “Hey Coach” radio show on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, Oats discussed the situation.
“We’ve got standards in our program,” Oats said. “We’ve got ways we’ve held our guys accountable. We try to keep everything in-house. Obviously, some of the situations you can’t, this is one of those. Situation is a little different. When I found out this morning, when we found out what was going on this morning. I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning.
“We had to suspend him pending the investigation by the UA office of student conduct. We’re disappointed in his behavior. With that said, we still love him. He’s still our guy. We’re going to get him the help that he needs, and we’re going to continue to help him whatever way we can.”
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“I thought our guys, at the same time, you know Aden’s one of our guys and everybody wants to wrap their arms around him, everybody makes mistakes in life,” Oats said. “But they also understand that we’ve gotta move on and we’ve got a whole other group of guys, and the team’s got to go play Friday. So, thought we did a good job of that this morning, kind of addressing the situation, what we currently knew at the time, and got our guys focused in practice.”
In other words, it sounds like Holloway isn’t going to be playing in March Madness.
While we’re on the subject of Alabama players in the national spotlight, we also got word that Charles Bediako has given up his attempt to sue to the NCAA.
Oh well. Hofstra is up on the docket this Friday, and Alabama will just have to do it without him.
Moving to football, if you missed it, Kane Wommack spoke to the media late on Friday.
Wommack talked a good bit about seeing what they can do to get a better pass rush, and talked some about the Wolf and Bandit positions becoming a little more interchangeable. Justin Hill and Kevonte Henry both got mentioned as guys who are taking steps forward, and Devan Thompkins was mentioned as a guy who’s going to be a major factor as both an interior and outside rusher.
“Obviously, we’re doing a lot with ‘DT’, Devan Thompkins is moving around for us,” Wommack said. “He can play outside, he can play inside, and he’s kind of a force to be reckoned with… You try to find versatility, guys that can do multiple things, play multiple positions, and that is something that he brings to the table, because of his athleticism and because of his size and strength, he can do things inside and outside at a pretty high level,” Wommack said.
“Once we got to know him and started doing our research from his time at USC, this guy’s a captain, he’s a leader. He carries himself with a professional demeanor day in and day out. And he is absolutely shown that in the first two months of being here. The level of maturity that he brings, the work ethic. He wants to be coached. He wants to be pushed, and he has a really, really high ceiling.”
Wommack also talked about the linebackers, and it sounds like Caleb Woodson is coming in to be one starter, but it’s a wide-open battle for the other linebacker spot (or two… They’ll rotate). He seemed legitimately excited about that, and even mentioned that it was the plan for that competition a year ago, but Deontae Lawson came back and Justin Jefferson got the JUCO ruling, so both were unexpected returners.
Finally, here’s a Brooks Austin video looking at some of the little bit of film we have from Austin Mack and Keelon Russell. Enjoy!
