Alabama star linebacker Deontae Lawson is out for the remainder of the year with a significant lower leg injury, Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer confirmed Monday. Lawson is Alabama’s second-leading tackler and considered a top prospect at his position for the upcoming NFL draft.

Lawson suffered the injury against Oklahoma on Saturday. He was taken to the locker room and quickly ruled out of the game.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack had said his news conference Monday that Lawson wouldn’t play for the No. 13 Crimson Tide against Auburn this week. He declined to comment further, deferring to DeBoer.

Lawson is Alabama’s second-leading tackler with 76. He’s also one of the defense’s most productive players, as he has four deflected passes, an interception, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He also has a pair of sacks.

The junior from Mobile is draft-eligible and considered one of the top linebackers. It’s uncertain how this injury will impact his upcoming decision, however.

Among ESPN analysts, Lawson is Mel Kiper Jr.’s No. 5 linebacker and is ranked No. 3 by Jordan Reid and Field Yates.

Alabama is 8-3 on the season after losing to Oklahoma 24-3 in Norman.

North Carolina coach Mack Brown said Monday that he intends to return to the Tar Heels next season, although he has not yet had any discussions about his future with athletic director Bubba Cunningham.

Brown, 73, was asked during his weekly news conference about his future and said, “You never talk to your athletic director until the year’s over. Everybody always does that. My total focus is on NC State. What an awful thing to be talking about me when we just played a bad game and need to beat State.”

Asked directly whether it was his intention to return, Brown said, “Yes.”

North Carolina heads into its rivalry game against the Wolfpack at 6-5, off a noncompetitive 41-21 loss to Boston College. The season has been a roller coaster, to say the least. After a 70-50 loss to James Madison on Sept. 21, Brown told his Tar Heels he would walk away if the team felt he could no longer do the job. From that point forward, his job status has been the subject of speculation — particularly through a four-game slide that had North Carolina 3-4 headed into an open date.

The Tar Heels then had to deal with the loss of receiver Tylee Craft, who died 2½ years after being diagnosed with cancer. In a recent interview with ESPN, Brown said his perspective changed after losing Craft.

“I realized at that time the team needed me more than ever before. So, probably more than any other time in my career, in my life, I feel like these kids and these coaches need me to step up and be strong and try to help them learn to navigate through these storms and this turmoil,” Brown said.

North Carolina then won three in a row, and reports surfaced last week that he intended to stay with the Tar Heels. But the loss to BC revived the speculation about his future.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, 65, said Monday that he will decide after the season whether to return for his 21st year at the helm.

“My decision will be made on what’s best for the program, not what’s best for me,” Whittingham said. “So, it’ll be completely determined on how I feel this program is best served going forward.”

Utah started the season as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12, but after winning their first four games, they’ve lost seven straight and will finish the season Friday at UCF.

During the summer, the school announced defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley would be Whittingham’s successor whenever he decides to retire.

“[I’ll] sit down and evaluate everything,” Whittingham said. “I can tell you right now that Coach Scalley will be involved in decisions going forward because it’s only right that he does that because he’s the coach in waiting and when that time comes we need to make sure that he’s had input on big decisions. So it’ll be a team effort in that respect going forward as far as hiring and recruiting and that type of thing.”

Whittingham is tied for the second-longest tenured coach in FBS, behind only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, having been hired to replace Urban Meyer at Utah at the end of the 2004 season.

Utah should also have news soon regarding the future of quarterback Cam Rising, who missed the 2023 season due to a major knee injury and was sidelined by injury again early this season. Whittingham said last month that Rising could seek a medical waiver to play in 2025.

“I have no inside scoop or anything right now as to what he’s thinking,” Whittingham said. “Try to give him some space and let him sort things out and decide which direction he wants to go.

“That’s on Cam’s timeline and obviously we’ve got to at some point make our own decisions on what’s going to happen if there is still indecisiveness, but I think that should be cleared up in the next week to 10 days.”