Alabama defensive tackle Jehiem Oatis has decided to redshirt for the 2024 season and will enter the NCAA transfer portal.
The junior said reduced playing time was the biggest factor in his decision. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 325 pounds, Oatis played in five games for the Crimson Tide this season, collecting one tackle and one deflected pass. In his three seasons at Alabama, he has 57 tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, three tackles for loss and five passes deflected.
“I’m getting the reps and looks I’m getting,” Oatis told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “I feel like it’s better for me to move to a new place.”
Oatis, a former four-star recruit and the sixth-ranked defensive tackle in the 2022 recruiting class, averaged 16 snaps per game this season. By comparison, he averaged more than 22 snaps per game last year and more than 24 during the 2022 season.
In Alabama’s two biggest games so far this season against Wisconsin and Georgia, Oatis played a total of 25 snaps. Oatis did not play in the Tide’s loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday due to a knee injury.
In the spring, he underwent surgeries on his shoulder, knee and ankle, which left him unable to practice. Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack referenced Oatis’ injuries when discussing the matter with reporters on Monday.
“He has been dealing with a number of injuries and has not been able to perform or produce the way we would like him to,” Wommack said, via The Tuscaloosa News. “But my focus is really on the players who are going to do everything they can to help us win football games. And so that’s really where my focus is right now.”
At his press conference on Monday, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said the coaches felt Oatis was leaning toward this decision.
“It felt like it was going that way,” DeBoer said. “I think we also have to understand that there are other elements to it, right? There are health elements, there are life elements. I love these guys, they worked hard. Jeheim’s choices and everything, there are reasons for that.”
