BREAKING NEWS: Florida DE Kelby Collins transfers to Alabama football. What it means for Crimson Tide

 An Alabama native is returning to his home state.

Former Florida defensive end Kelby Collins announced he would transfer to Alabama football after two seasons with the Gators.

Collins is the third player to transfer to Alabama, joining former Cal long snapper David Bird and former Colorado School of Mines punter Blake Doud.

Collins announced his intention to enter the transfer portal Dec. 3. He was on Alabama’s campus Dec. 13 for a visit.

Collins, a former 2023 top-50 defensive end out of Gardendale, Alabama, initially picked the Gators over Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Oklahoma.

Collins was one of Florida’s go-to defensive players as a freshman in 2023.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive lineman played 274 snaps per Pro Football Focus as an edge rusher and generated 23 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, 1.5 sacks, one pass deflection and a forced fumble. He was named freshman all-SEC and was a second-team freshman All-American.

That production dipped in 2024, playing 59 snaps in six games and recording six tackles after moving to defensive tackle.

Alabama football depth chart: Where does Kelby Collins fit?
Alabama is in desperate need of an edge rusher.

The Crimson Tide could lose both senior Bandit Jah-Marien Latham and LT Overton, who has shown up on multiple 2025 NFL mock draft boards. This would leave Alabama without either of its co-starters from 2024.

While players like Jordan Renaud and Keon Keeley could fill in for Latham and Overton, an edge rusher like Collins was seemingly at the top of the Crimson Tide’s transfer portal wish list, one who produced as a larger defensive end before moving to the interior.

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him atcgay@gannett.com or follow him@_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.