Carmelo O’Neal didn’t arrive at Alabama as a mystery man for long.
The former Mercer defensive back showed enough last season at the FCS level to turn heads: nine pass deflections, a forced fumble, a sack and 38 tackles as a sophomore. Now he’s in Tuscaloosa, and the early word out of fall camp is that he’s already carved out a real place for himself in the Crimson Tide secondary.
The first buzz around O’Neal came last November, when Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was studying Auburn film ahead of the Iron Bowl and noticed Mercer’s defensive back group. Wommack’s reaction stuck.
“We were watching Auburn, and they had played Mercer the week before,” Wommack said back in March. “I was like, ‘Damn, who is this DB they got at Mercer?”
That curiosity turned into a deeper look once the 2025 season ended, and Alabama’s staff decided O’Neal fit what it wanted to build on the back end.
By spring, Wommack was already talking about O’Neal in glowing terms, and that praise hasn’t cooled off as camp rolls on. The Alabama DC has pointed to the size, length and athleticism that made O’Neal intriguing in the first place, but what’s really impressed him is how quickly the transfer has taken to everything around him.
“There’s not many guys that have that length and that athleticism,” he said. “I knew there was a skill set to work with.
He was athletically further ahead. It was better than what any of us had anticipated when he got here.
He’s just made huge strides in the last eight months.”
Wommack also emphasized the way O’Neal has attacked the transition.
“He just dove in. He’s got a professional mindset.
He works at it every day. He’s very coachable,” Wommack said.
That approach has been noticed inside the room, too. Dijon Lee, another Alabama defensive back, said O’Neal has been putting in the work on technique while also bringing something less measurable to the group.
“He’s out there working with us, getting his technique right just like all of us,” Lee said. “He brings a lot of swagger to the room too, so he’s a good fit for us."
The bigger question now is how much he’ll actually play. Alabama’s secondary is stacked, and Wommack made clear that earning snaps means pushing proven players like Bray Hubbard and Zabien Brown.
“You’re asking me to put you on the field. That means I've got to take Bray Hubbard off the field or Zabien Brown off the field, right?
And at times, those guys need a breather anyway,” Wommack said. “But they have to play at least close to the same level as those experienced players.”
Still, the expectation around O’Neal is that Alabama won’t just leave him sitting. A junior with that kind of frame and athletic profile is too hard to ignore, and if the talk inside the building proves accurate, he could end up being an important piece for the Tide down the line, especially in 2026.
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