Alabama’s frontcourt plans got a major boost this week, with head coach Nate Oats confirming that center Collins Onyejiaka is fully cleared for the 2026-27 season.
The update came after the Crimson Tide’s 111-93 home win over Furman in a preseason exhibition, where Onyejiaka was dressed but did not get into the game. Oats said the decision was about the matchup, not the player’s status.
"He is fully cleared," Oats said after the game. "Just was not the game to give him some minutes with the way they played, with all their picks on the perimeter.
He is as of right now [fully cleared]. Again, things could change, but yes, he was physically able to participate in the game tonight."
Onyejiaka’s Alabama career has been delayed since early last season, when he was ruled "out indefinitely" because of a heart condition on Nov. 12, 2025, just two games into the year. He opened his college career with five rebounds and six minutes against North Dakota, scoring his first points in that game, and then added one rebound in four minutes against St. John’s.
The 6-foot-11, 265-pound center from The Newman School in Boston came to Alabama as a reclassified recruit after originally being part of the 2026 class. A four-star prospect, he was ranked the No. 11 center in the 2026 class by 247Sports.
Oats had been talking up Onyejiaka’s upside before the 2025-26 season, especially his size and potential as a rim protector. That vision never got a real chance to take shape after the setback.
“He's a large man. He's young," Oats said before the 2025-26 season.
"He's supposed to be a senior in high school today, which is crazy when you see him. But the biggest thing was we needed some rim protector…He's a lot more raw offensively, but getting him a year early, you can really start to develop him and hopefully he's a guy down the road who can really be special for us.”
Now, Onyejiaka is part of a roster built around size. Oats said after Alabama’s season-ending loss to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 that "we got to get bigger," and the new group reflects that direction.
Including Onyejiaka, 12 of Alabama’s 15 players are at least 6-foot-6. Every transfer is 6-foot-8 or taller, and every freshman except guard Anderson Diaz is around 6-foot-6.
Alabama was also without four guards against Furman: Aden Holloway, Anderson Diaz, Jaxon Richardson and Preston Murphy Jr. Holloway is suspended through the preseason and the first two games of the regular season after his marijuana charges were dismissed. Oats said before the game that Diaz and Murphy have upper-body injuries while Richardson has an illness.
Furman was the first of three scrimmages for Alabama, with Ole Miss set for Oct. 15 and Auburn on Oct. 22 in Birmingham.
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