Alabama News

No. 1 Jannik Sinner plays against No. 6 Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinal today. The match is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. CT on ESPN. Fans can watch this tennis match for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

Sinner enters this match with a 5-0 record at Wimbledon, and he has swept four of his opponents. In his most recent match, Sinner defeated No. 10 Ben Shelton. After a close opening set, Sinner was able to win the next two sets 6-4.

If Sinner performs similarly this morning, then he should earn a spot in the Wimbledon Final.

Djokovic also enters this match with a 5-0 record at Wimbledon, and he is coming off a victory against No. 22 Flavio Cobolli. After losing the first set via tiebreakers, Djokovic was able to win three consecutive sets.

Notably, Djokovic also knocked off No. 11 Alex de Minaur in the tournament. If Djokovic continues to play at a high level, then he will be difficult to defeat.

Fans can watch the Wimbledon semifinal for free online by using the free trials offered by DirecTV and Fubo TV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.

Only three quarterbacks in SEC history have been responsible for more touchdowns in one season than Bryce Young’s 50 for Alabama in 2021.

LSU’s Joe Burrow totaled 65 (60 passing, five rushing) in 2019, while Florida’s Tim Tebow racked up 55 (32 passing, 23 rushing) in 2007 and Auburn’s Cam Newton posted 51 (30 passing, 20 rushing, one receiving) in 2010. LSU’s Jayden Daniels equaled Young’s 50 in 2023.

All five won the Heisman Trophy. Young is in very good company indeed.

Young was a five-star recruit out of California powerhouse Mater Dei High School in 2020, and backed up Mac Jones on Alabama’s national championship team as a freshman. Despite his being undersized at 5-foot-10, Alabama head coach Saban had set high expectations about Young’s potential on the day he signed with the Crimson Tide.

“I just absolutely love the guy,” Saban said Dec. 19, 2019. “His character. He’s got a great family. He’s got all the right stuff. And I think that’s really important in the quarterback position. You’ve heard me say this many times before, if you play quarterback, it’s hard to play the position if the people around you don’t play well, so having great leadership qualities can contribute to that. I think Bryce certainly possesses those qualities.”

When Jones left for the NFL following the 2020 season, Young took over as the starter. From Day 1, he unleashed his talents on the SEC and the college football world in general.

Young passed for 344 yards and four touchdowns in a season-opening rout of Miami, then added three touchdowns in each of the next two weeks, wins over Mercer and Florida. He completed 20 of 22 passes for 313 yards and five touchdowns in a Week 4 vs. Southern Miss, giving him 15 touchdown passes and just one interception through a third of the regular season.

Other season highlights were a four-touchdown (two passing, two rushing) performance in a 52-24 win over Tennessee in late October, then five touchdown passes in back-to-back weeks vs. New Mexico State and Arkansas in November. He passed for 559 yards in the latter game, breaking Scott Hunter’s program record of 484 that had stood for 52 years.

Young struggled a bit at Auburn on Nov. 27, but led a last-minute touchdown drive to tie the game and then threw the game-winning two-point pass to John Metchie in the fourth overtime for a 24-22 victory. After throwing for 421 yards and totaling four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) vs. Georgia in the SEC championship game, he easily outpointed the field for the Heisman, collecting 684 of a possible 875 first-place votes — 78% overall and 606 more than second-place finisher Aidan Hutchinson of Michigan.

“I’ve always been labeled as someone who’s not the prototype, being an African-American quarterback and being ‘undersized’ and not being that prototype, I’ve always been ruled out and counted out,” Young said after winning the Heisman. “People a lot of times have told me that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. And for me, it’s always been about, not really proving them wrong but proving to myself what I can accomplish.

“I’ve always pushed myself to work the hardest and I try my best to do all I can to maximize all that I can do. And thanks to the people around me and through the grace of God, I’ve been able to make it here, and I’m truly grateful for that.”

Young was the last in a quartet of first-team All-America quarterbacks at Alabama under Saban, a list that also included AJ McCarron, Tua Tagovailoa and Jones. Prior to McCarron in 2013, the Crimson Tide hadn’t had a quarterback selected first-team All-American since Ken Stabler in 1967.

He was also the last of four Heisman winners under Saban, following running backs Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015) and wide receiver DeVonta Smith (2020). Alabama had never had a Heisman recipient before Saban arrived, with no Crimson Tide quarterback finishing higher than fifth in the balloting.

Young and the Crimson Tide ultimately fell short of a national championship in 2021, beating Cincinnati in the semifinal round before falling in a rematch with Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. He had an excellent — but not quite as good — 2022 season, passing for 3,328 yards and 32 touchdowns (plus four more rushing) while battling injuries as Alabama finished 11-2 and failed to make the playoff.

Young gave up his final year of eligibility to enter the 2023 NFL draft. In the lead-up to the draft, Saban famously compared him to a “point guard in basketball.”

“He’s got eyes all over,” Saban told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith for his podcast in March 2023. “He knows where everybody is. He can extend plays. He creates throwing lanes for himself, which is important for a guy at his size. He can make all the throws. He’s smart. So, he has a lot of the attributes — from a psychological disposition standpoint — that are necessary to excel at this position.”

That spring, Young again made history as Alabama’s first No. 1 overall NFL draft pick since Harry Gilmer in 1948. He’s had some rocky moments in his first two seasons with the Carolina Panthers, but won his job back after being benched in 2024 — no doubt using the strength of what Saban called his “psychological disposition” to do so.

Coming Saturday: Our countdown to kickoff continues with No. 49, an Alabama walk-on who became an All-American.

Scotty McCreery and his family are grieving the loss of both his grandmothers, who died within hours of each other.

His grandmother Janet died on Wednesday, then hours later, his grandmother, Paquita, died.

The country music singer’s mom Judy McCreery posted the news on Facebook about her mom Janet and her mother-in-law Paquita.

Scotty McCreery posted on Instagram he felt like he was in shock.

“My heart is absolutely broken,” he posted Thursday. “Yesterday, both my Grandma Janet and my Grandma Paquita passed away. I think I am still in a bit of shock as I type this, but I’m choosing to remember the great memories we all made with both of them.”

His mother’s post said Janet was fighting the flu.

“Here is a post I hoped I wouldn’t be making for several years,” Judy McCreery posted. “My precious mom, age 85, passed away yesterday at WakeMed, shortly after 1 p.m. She had been battling norovirus & the flu, which led to dehydration and pneumonia. My heart is broken. I have to accept it was her time.

“This is hard to fathom, but we also lost Mike’s mom, Paquita, yesterday, a few hours later at 4 p.m. She was 93 and had been in declining health. We will celebrate my mom’s life in her hometown next Monday. Paquita’s services are still pending. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

It’s perhaps the most brutal myth in the canon: Saturn, trying to outmaneuver a prophecy of his downfall, devours his own children — an act that ensures exactly what he hoped to avoid. The story echoes with the consequences of trying to control the uncontrollable. “Control freak” is a bad look for gods and mortals alike — and a habit worth breaking on the eve of Saturn’s retrograde.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You’re turning the canvas upside down, tilting the frame, examining the dynamics from every angle. What looks “fine” will become extraordinary with a few bold changes.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Tracing your own line through history will open your eyes to other people’s journeys, too. You’ll find yourself struck with new empathy, new questions and a deeper respect for everyone’s origin story.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). There’s a choice between pushing harder and softening into trust. Try the second one. Something wants to come together without force. If you let it move together and take form in its own time, you won’t have to get your hands dirty.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You walk into a room and something shifts. You don’t mean to dazzle — but you do. People lean in. They pay attention. They’re responding to the glow you forgot you were carrying.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’ll remember how good it feels to be generous with your attention. A stranger, a neighbor, a friend on the fringe — they’ll appreciate that you took the time to interact and acknowledge the moment you share.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Waiting to be in the mood is for amateurs. Not you. You act first and let moods catch up with you. That’s what sets you apart. Energy follows commitment. Start small if you must, but start, and momentum will take it from there.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Even on the hard days, you don’t abandon yourself. You’re willing to feel it all. You’re being brave just by staying with the rhythm of your experience and being present to the beat of your own heart.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). There are many things deserving of your attention and you can’t help it that you just happen to be able to juggle quite a bit. You’re not scattered; you’re abundant. You’re not “all over the place”; you’re multidimensional.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You have a gift for fine-tuning. What others overlook, you refine into something that not only works better but feels better, too. Efficiency with style — that’s your signature today.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Leave space. Better yet, make space. Today favors subtraction over addition. What you remove — an old habit, a tired phrase, a cluttered plan — makes the whole system sing and lets the essential part rise to the surface.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). There’s no toggle switch for intuition. It’s more like a voice you have to remember how to hear. Ask out loud. Be willing to listen. You already know the answer that is held deep in your being, just waiting to be heard.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). The same sensitivity you sometimes consider a liability is actually your superpower. This is just one more data stream to inform your decisions. You’ll pick up on what’s going unsaid and use it to shape a better outcome for everyone.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (July 11). You’ll make a modest but mighty leader. Because you’ve developed a kind of consistency and care people enjoy, talk about and trust, you’ll be tapped for an opportunity you didn’t expect. Your influence grows in a direction you’ll be proud of. More highlights: a creative risk brings emotional and financial rewards. A reconnection is the stuff novels are written about. A dream you’ve carried privately will take public form. Gemini and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 4, 13, 22, 36 and 50.

Holiday Mathis’ debut novel, “How To Fail Epically in Hollywood,” is out now! This fast-paced romp about achieving Hollywood stardom is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit creatorspublishing.com for more information. Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Auburn football had a rough month of June on the recruiting trail.

The Tigers lost multiple commitments from their 2026 class and found themselves ranked in the 80s in 247Sports team recruiting rankings. As that was happening, head coach Hugh Freeze caught plenty of criticism for the time he spent on the golf course.

From June 1 to June 24, Freeze posted 10 rounds to the USGA’s GHIN database, more than any other coach who made their scores public. Those numbers led to Freeze catching plenty of heat from fans, media members and others invested in college football.

Freeze addressed that criticism in an episode of David Pollack’s See Ball Get Ball podcast on Thursday.

“I do love golf, I enjoy playing it to get away, but what people don’t realize is probably, you know, I assure you I never missed a camp day or a recruiting day,” Freeze said. “But, if camp got over at three o’clock one day and Jill and I go out at 4:30, we absolutely might do that and I’m not apologizing for that part of it.

“My focus is 100% on getting Auburn in that win column this fall. I think the biggest thing that’s causing most of it is the recruiting rankings right now,” Freeze continued. “We’ve been top 10 my two years here in recruiting and currently we’re not.”

Auburn’s 2026 recruiting class currently ranks 78th in 247Sports’ team recruiting rankings but has been as low as 89th this summer. The Tigers have had four players decommit from the class since June.

Freeze spoke briefly on why Auburn has had issues in recruiting, referencing the changes brought on by the House Settlement, allowing revenue sharing with athletes.

“Good lord, we could spend 30 minutes on why I think that is,” Freeze said of Auburn’s low recruiting ranking. “There’s a lot of people right now that are operating under a different set of rules on what their interpretation is of this settlement and how you should operate. I’m gonna operate in the manner that our administration has interpreted it.

“I think it’s a long game play for us that I think is gonna work out in our favor because we’re doing it very transparent and the way we believe the settlement is written and to operate, if that makes any sense.”

Another point Freeze made when talking about the recruiting issues is Auburn prioritizing retaining the current roster, using the example of the wide receiver room.

“Do y’all realize on paper that I’m not losing a single receiver? This is not like, David, in the old days where you just sign 25 guys and figure out who the 85 are,” Freeze said. “This is actually a salary cap world, and I like our receiver room. How do I go and make offers to other receivers at numbers that these other schools are when I’m like, come January I wanna keep the ones I have?

“I don’t think the Finebaums of the world or any of them think about all that, they just say, ‘he’s playing golf and not recruiting.’”

Freeze added that the staff “has not changed a single approach to our recruiting,” saying people love when they come to Auburn. He also pointed to Aug. 1 as a potential turning point, the day the often-lucrative offers from schools start going into writing.

“We’ll see where everything shakes out after that,” Freeze said.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkusor email him at [email protected]m

Herb Jones missed 62 games during the 2024-25 NBA season, but that didn’t dim the New Orleans Pelicans’ interest in the former Alabama standout’s future with the team.

Jones and the Pelicans have agreed on a three-year, $68 million contract extension that could keep the forward with New Orleans through the 2029-30 season, ESPN reported on Thursday night.

Jones is halfway through a four-year, $53.828 million contract signed after his second NBA season. The new deal will extend that contract, closing with a player-option season in 2029-30.

Jones played in only 20 games last season, making his final appearance on Jan. 8, before a torn labrum that required surgery took him off the court. Jones averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals in the 2024-25 campaign.

Through four NBA seasons, Jones has averaged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 240 regular-season games.

Jones finished sixth in the voting for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the 2021-22 season and fifth in the voting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the 2023-24 season, when he made the NBA’s All-Defensive team.

Jones won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A Player of the Year Award for the 2016-17 season when he led Hale County to the AHSAA championship.

After Hale County, Jones played four seasons at Alabama. He concluded his college career with the Crimson Tide as the SEC Player of the Year and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for the 2020-21 season.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

A member of the iconic Backstreet Boys has filed a lawsuit against a Florida sheriff’s office alleging that the agency is not properly protecting the singer’s private beachfront property.

According to News 13, Brian Littrell filed the lawsuit against the Walton County Sheriff‘s Office on June 19.

The complaint alleges that the sheriff‘s office is not fulfilling their duty to protect Littrell’s private beach property, referred to as “BLB Beach Hut LLC”, from trespassers.

The suit contends that trespassers harassed Littrell‘s family and compromised their security on May 4 and June 5, according to News 13.

Littrell‘s employees allegedly called the Walton County Sheriff’s office three times on June 5 but no deputies responded.

Prior to those incidents Littrell attempted to put up “No Trespassing” signs but the complaint states that endeavor failed because “numerous trespassers have set out to antagonize, bully, and harass the Littrell family by regularly, every day, trespassing on BLB’s beach.”

The sheriff’s office told News 13 that the agency would not comment on ongoing litigation.

The Huntsville City Council voted to annex more than 1,000 acres in Morgan and Marshall counties on Thursday, a move city officials said would expand the Rocket City’s industrial base.

Wiz Kidz LLC and Hollingshead Materials LLC, which operates Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete LLC, petitioned the city for the annexation of 1,013.96 acres south of the Tennessee River. The property lies primarily along McCutcheon Loop Road in Morgan County, with a smaller portion extending along Vaughn Road in Marshall County. Huntsville’s city limits now extend into four counties.

The petition did not request any city services as part of the annexation. The annexation will allow the city to regulate the quarry where Smyrna Ready Mix operates.

City Manager of Planning and Zoning Services Thomas Nunez said the quarry has already received permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and would have been allowed to operate without the annexation.

The City’s Urban and Economic Development Director, Shane Davis, said the move will help protect Tennessee River frontage in Morgan County and provide oversight in adjacent residential areas.

Smyrna Ready Mix has also offered to supply materials to help improve infrastructure within the newly annexed area. Nunez said the company already supplies materials for projects within the city limits. With the annexation, the city will receive revenue from the sale of materials from the quarry.

Huntsville first annexed land south of the Tennessee River in Morgan County in 2018. Wiz Kidz is managed by John Wisda, who was involved in Huntsville’s previous annexation of more than 659 acres in Morgan County in 2018. At the time, recreational and residential development was proposed for the across the river annexation.

The annexed land is south of the Riverside Event Center in Laceys Spring just off U.S. 231 and the Sundance subdivision where lots are being sold for residential use.

Nunez said there is only one single family home on the site now. Nunez said no homes are planned for the newly annexed land and will not affect Huntsville City Schools enrollment, which was a concern of District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins during this year’s earlier annexations.

Huntsville has already annexed more than 1,600 acres this year after only annexing 85 in 2024. This year’s annexations now make the Rocket City the 37th largest city in the nation at about 229 square miles, about the same size as Chicago and San Francisco geographically.

According to census tract data Huntsville is larger than:

• New Orleans (169.5 square miles)
• Denver (153.1 square miles)
• Las Vegas (141.9 square miles)
• Philadelphia (134.3 square miles).

Commercial, industrial and residential developments are proposed for land previously taken in by the city this year.

An investigation is underway after a man was found dead on the side of a busy Birmingham road.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, West Precinct officers received a call of a person possibly dead across the the street from Chevron at 490 Forestdale Boulevard.

Officers arrived to find an adult white male dead. He was in a grassy area just feet from the road.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said it’s too soon to determine if foul play was involved in the man’s death.

“The victim has been here for some time,” Fitzgerald said. “We do not know the victim’s cause of death.”

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office will take possession of the body to try to confirm and identity as well as the cause and mannter of death.

“If there was a crime committed, our homicide investigators will investigate this and we’ll update the public as it unfolds,” he said.

Fitzgerald said there are recognizable features that will help determine the man’s identity. He did not elaborate and did not yet know if he was carrying identification.

Fitzgerald said the man could be middle-aged.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.