The Alabama Crimson Tide have found their third addition from the portal, and this time, it comes in former five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American Jalil Bethea. Bethea will be transferring from the Miami Hurricanes to Alabama ahead of next season, where he will look to fill some big shoes on Alabama.
Bethea made the announcement via his Instagram. The highly sought-after transfer portal chose the Crimson Tide over the Kansas State Wildcats, the NC State Wolfpack, and a potential return to the Hurricanes. Bethea will be entering his sophomore season after spending his freshman year at Miami.
Jalil Bethea Transfers From Miami to Alabama
Bethea becomes the Crimson Tide’s third addition from the transfer portal. He joins former Bucknell center Noah Williamson and Florida State forward Taylor Bol Bowen. Williamson committed on March 3, whereas Bol Bowen revealed his next steps for his college basketball career on April 3.
Bethea, who stands at 6’5″ and weighs 190 pounds, was a five-star recruit. Coming out of Archbishop Wood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the 2024 class, the No. 3 shooting guard, and the No. 1 ranked player out of the state of Pennsylvania.
NEWS: Miami transfer Jalil Bethea has announced he’s committed to Alabama.
Bethea is a former five-star and McDonald’s All-American who played just one season at Miami. Started 16 of 30 games this season.
He averaged 7.1PPG, 2.1RPG and 1.2APG in 24-25. pic.twitter.com/OUhSp6pAKL
— Sam Kayser – 24/7 High School Hoops (@247HSHoops) April 6, 2025
Perhaps most impressive, Bethea was a McDonald’s All-American on Team East. He faced off against the 2024-25 Crimson Tide forwards Aiden Sherrell and Derrion Reid. Sherrell and Reid were on Team West in April 2024. Sherrell will be returning next season and be Bethea’s teammate; however, Reid still has a decision to make.
In 31 games this past season, Bethea made 16 starts. He averaged 7.1 points and shot 36.8% from the field while connecting on 32.6% from deep. He also averaged 2.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.6 steals in 18.9 minutes per game.
Nonetheless, this was a season Miami didn’t want to remember anyway, as they only won seven games while losing 24. To make matters worse, they only won three games out of their 20 ACC conference play.
Bethea is now the fifth guard on the Crimson Tide’s 2025-26 roster, and the team is up to 10 players. With that being said, there are three spots left to fill on the team, as they don’t have much more scouting to do.
KEEP READING: Alabama Adds Big Man Noah Williamson: Patriot League Player of the Year Transfers From Bucknell
According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Bethea was originally expected to visit the Crimson Tide and the Wolfpack of NC State after the dead period. However, something shifted over the course of Saturday, and Bethea decided to announce his transfer destination at 1:00 p.m. CST the following day.
Rothstein reported that Bethea committed on Sunday afternoon.
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