JD Byars has departed from his job as director of broadcasting for South Alabama football, AL.com has confirmed.

Byars did not make the trip Friday with the Jaguars to Stillwater, Okla., for Saturday’s game at Oklahoma State, as is protocol for road trips on which the team takes a charter flight. JT Crabtree, South Alabama’s assistant director of broadcasting since 2017, will fill in on radio play-by-play duties alongside longtime analyst Pat Greenwood for Saturday’s game and possibly the remainder of the season.

Reached for comment on Saturday morning, South Alabama athletics director Joel Erdmann declined to give give a reason for Byars’ departure. He would say only that Byars “is no longer working for the university.”

Byars, a multi-time winner of the National Sports Media Association’s Alabama Sportscaster of the Year award, had been with South Alabama since 2014. He was the primary play-by-play broadcaster on ESPN+ for Jaguars home games in football, baseball and men’s basketball, and on radio for road games in football.

A Hartselle native and former football player at North Alabama, Byars worked in television in the Huntsville area for several years while also broadcasting UNA sports on the radio before coming to Mobile. He suffered a severe back injury in a December 2022 car accident, but returned to work the New Orleans Bowl later that month and called the Jaguars’ first two football games this year.

Crabtree has handled radio play-by-play for South Alabama football games at home on and baseball and men’s basketball on the road for the last several years. A USA graduate, he has served as game day engineer and halftime show host for football road games in addition to his play-by-play duties.

Byars’ departure from South Alabama was first reported by Lagniappe.com.