Alabama Safety Named Semifinalist For Shaun Alexander Award

The Maxwell Football Club announced its 14 semifinalists for the Shaun Alexander Award. 

Among the semifinalists is Alabama freshman safety Caleb Downs.

Downs, from Hoschton, Ga.has started in each of the Tide's first eight games of the 2023 season and he leads the Alabama defense in tackles with 63, that mark is good enough for sixth in the Southeastern Conference. 

Additionally, he's broken up one pass, forced one fumble and recorded two interceptions. His first interception of the season sealed the Crimson Tide's win over Mississippi State and his second flipped the momentum of Alabama's game against Texas A&M.

His efforts have already garnered him two SEC Freshman of the Week awards, in Week 1 against Mississippi State and in Week 5 against Mississippi State.

The finalists for the award will be named on Nov. 29 and the winner will be declared on Dec. 27. 

Edge rusher Will Anderson is Alabama's only winner of the award, taking home the honor in 2020. Anderson tallied 52 tackles with 10.5 for a loss and seven sacks as a freshman.

The award goes to the most outstanding freshman football player in college football and is named for Alabama's legendary running back Shaun Alexander. As a freshman in 1996 he ran for 589 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games for the Crimson Tide.

Downs was considered a 5-star recruit out of Mill Creek High School and was ranked the No. 1 player in the state of Georgia and the No. 6 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class according to the 247Sports Composite.