Two Alabama starters choose graduation over NFL, return for senior season

After a tumultuous day of rumors — and strange tweets — Alabama linebacker Reggie Ragland and defensive lineman Jarran Reed are both returning to the program for their final seasons.

While Ohio State’s national title-winning quarterback Cardale Jones held a nationally televised press conference to announce he was returning to the Buckeyes, Ragland simply sent out a tweet.

I've decided to come back for my senior season! Roll Tide!!!

— ReggieRagland(bama) (@reggieragland) January 15, 2015

For official purposes, UA Athletics published a release announcing the return of both Ragland and Reed, where the two players shared their thoughts on returning to the program for one more year.

“I’ve thought a lot about this decision and talked to my family, Coach Saban, and everyone close to me,” Ragland said. “I’m going to return to the University of Alabama for my senior season. One of the big factors for me and my family is earning my degree and I’m on track to graduate. You only form a brotherhood like this once and I look forward to spending another season here with my teammates. Roll Tide.”

Reed will be in his second season at Alabama after transferring from East Mississippi Community College, and he, like Ragland, mentioned his desire to finish his degree in his final year at the school.

“After sitting down with my family, Coach Saban and Coach Davis, I have decided to return to Alabama for my senior year,” Reed said. “I am on track to finish my degree and that is very important to me. The chance to play in the NFL is still my dream, but I am excited about another year at Alabama with my teammates. I learned a lot being here last year, and I’m confident another year will only improve my chances to succeed in the future.”

This was only a day removed from IMG Academy, a prestigious sports training center in Florida, tweeting a welcome to Alabama linebacker Xzavier Dickson and Reed to its NFL Draft prep program. This was odd because Reed had not declared with his fellow Alabama underclassmen T.J. Yeldon, Amari Cooper and Landon Collins when they did last week.

Through Twitter, Ragland debunked the rumor that Reed was going pro, which was further discredited by Yahoo! Sports on Thursday. The IMG Academy tweet was deleted and an Alabama spokesman seemed to think the social media account for IMG made a mistake.

While Ragland clarified Reed’s situation on Wednesday, he left his own status up in the air.

Yall will know about me when the time comes

— ReggieRagland(bama) (@reggieragland) January 14, 2015

But after 24 hours of speculation, both are returning to Alabama, both are on track to graduate and both will contribute heavily to next season’s effort on defense.

This season, Ragland was second on the team in tackles with 95, only trailing Collins’ 103, and had 10.5 tackles for loss. Reed had 55 tackles, ranking him sixth on the team, with 6.5 tackles for loss and five passes broken up on Alabama’s deep defensive line.

Alabama still has two coaching vacancies on defense, but the return of Ragland and Reed mitigates the need to train new starters at their crucially important positions.