BREAKING NEWS: Bamas WR and QB just announced their departure in …

Alabama safety Caleb Downs, a second-team All-American in his freshman season, has officially entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Downs earned a starting safety spot as a true freshman in 2023 and became the first known freshman to lead the team in tackles, according to his school bio. He earned first-team All-SEC honors and was the SEC’s Newcomer of the Year.

Downs received numerous freshman All-America honors and also received second-team All-America honors for all players from The Associated Press.

Downs finished fourth in the SEC in tackles with 107 and had a hand in four turnovers with a forced fumble, a recovered fumble and two interceptions. He also returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown.

Against Texas, he had 10 tackles and forced a fumble, and he led the team in tackles in the Tide’s Rose Bowl loss to Michigan.

Downs (6 feet, 203 pounds) projects as one of the top picks in the 2026 NFL draft. He’ll have two seasons remaining wherever he goes before draft eligibility. He’ll be one of the most talented and coveted players to enter the transfer portal this season. Former Alabama coach Nick Saban had been unusually effusive in describing Downs’ talent and ceiling for a freshman.

On his radio show this season, Saban said of Downs: “I think what impresses me most about Caleb Downs is his maturity. He’s a very instinctive football player, but this guy, there’s no arrogance about him, being one of the best players in the country at his position.”

Downs joins sophomore receiver Isaiah Bond as front-line Crimson Tide players to enter the portal since Saban’s retirement. Bond has since transferred to Texas.

Alabama’s offensive line also took a hit Wednesday as starting left tackle Kadyn Proctor announced he will be entering the transfer portal.

Proctor, ESPN’s No. 10 overall recruit and No. 2 offensive tackle in the 2023 class, started throughout the season and earned freshman All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches.

The 6-foot-7, 360-pound player from Des Moines, Iowa, initially committed to Iowa as a high school recruit before switching to Alabama. He also received significant interest from Oregon and other programs.

Caleb Downs is the younger brother of Josh Downs, the Colts rookie wide receiver who starred at North Carolina. Their father, Gary Downs, played running back in the NFL for the Giants, Broncos and Falcons.

Entering college, Caleb Downs chose Alabama over Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Clemson. He was a five-star recruit and ESPN’s No. 11 recruit in 2023 coming out of high school.

South Alabama is finalizing a deal to make offensive coordinator Major Applewhite the school’s next head coach, sources told ESPN.

Applewhite, 45, is the former head coach at Houston and has been an offensive coordinator at Texas and Alabama. He has been at South Alabama the past three years, putting together prolific offenses on back-to-back bowl teams. According to sources, Applewhite turned down multiple offensive coordinator opportunities at SEC and other Power Five schools after the 2022 season to remain at South Alabama.

Applewhite will replace Kane Wommack, who went 22-16 before leaving to become Alabama’s defensive coordinator earlier this week. Wommack has a long-standing friendship with new Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.

In Applewhite, South Alabama will get a tested head coach. In his two full seasons as the head coach at Houston, Applewhite went 15-10 and took the Cougars to a bowl each season. He was fired after going 8-5 in 2018 and was replaced by Dana Holgorsen, who was fired after five years with a worse winning percentage (52.5%) than Applewhite.

Applewhite’s deal with South Alabama continues a trend this month of quick coaching searches; South Alabama athletic director Joel Erdmann chose to elevate him less than 48 hours after the job opened. That follows the lead of Alabama, Washington and Arizona making swift choices, as the presence of the transfer portal and players not needing to sit after transferring has prompted athletic directors to work quickly to sustain stability in the program.

Under Applewhite, South Alabama averaged 33.1 points and more than 440 yards per game this season, which ranked among the top 25 in the country. Wide receiver Jalen Tolbert developed into a third-round pick in the 2022 draft under Applewhite, and transfer quarterback Carter Bradley is a potential draft pick after strong 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Applewhite’s coaching career includes early stops at Syracuse and Rice after starting as a graduate assistant at Texas, where he was a star quarterback from 1998 to 2001. In 2007, he served as the offensive coordinator on Nick Saban’s first Alabama staff and spent two seasons there as an analyst, in 2019 and 2020. He worked at Texas in various roles from 2008 to 2013.

Applewhite’s time at Houston both as offensive coordinator and head coach included the development of Greg Ward and D’Eriq King, two of the program’s linchpins on the field over the past decade.

Auburn as offensive coordinator, according to his current employer.

Mississippi on Wednesday posted a message on X thanking Nix, the associate head coach and receivers coach, for 16 years of service, with a statement from coach Lane Kiffin.

“Acknowledging the opportunity to become a first-time playcaller with full-time playcalling duties as Offensive Coordinator at Auburn University,” said the post, which was signed by Kiffin.

Auburn has not confirmed the hiring of Nix. Tigers coach Hugh Freeze fired coordinator Philip Montgomery, a former Tulsa head coach, after their first season.

Nix’s Ole Miss contract stipulates that he would owe a buyout if he left for a job other than a head-coaching or coordinator position with primary playcalling duties.

The wording could potentially matter because Freeze said in an interview with ESPN recently that he would take over playcalling duties after firing Montgomery. Freeze called his own plays at previous stops, including Ole Miss, Arkansas State and Liberty.

Nix took over as receivers coach for Ole Miss in 2020 after previously coaching running backs. The former Southern Miss running back coached receivers including Elijah Moore, Dontario Drummond and Tre Harris.

He was promoted to associate head coach before the 2023 season.

The Tigers ranked 121st of 130 FBS offenses in passing, averaging just 162.2 yards per game. The Tigers averaged 351 yards and 26 points a game. Auburn totaled just 300 yards in a 31-13 loss to Maryland in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30.