After Alabama narrowly missed the College Football Playoff in coach Kalen DeBoer’s first season, athletic director Greg Byrne told fans in a letter on X on Wednesday that “now is a time for action” and “time for the Bama Nation to fight back.”

“Although we have been competitive from an NIL standpoint, our competition has us in their sights and are actively trying to surge ahead with NIL,” Byrne said in the letter. “You have heard examples of other teams using promises of million-dollar paydays to lure away our players or convince them not to come to Alabama. It is time for the Bama Nation to fight back.”

The Crimson Tide went 9-3 under DeBoer, a former Washington coach, who replaced Nick Saban when he retired on Jan. 10. Alabama fell 40-35 at Vanderbilt on Oct. 5, its first loss to the Commodores in 40 years, and a 24-3 defeat at Oklahoma on Nov. 23 knocked the Tide out of the SEC championship game.

Alabama was No. 11 in the final College Football Playoff selection committee rankings. The Crimson Tide were left out of the 12-team bracket, however, because No. 12 Arizona State and No. 16 Clemson were conference champions and received automatic berths.

“We have been careful during this transitional period to protect our position at the top of college athletics while being mindful to listen, engage and learn from our generous supporters, proud alumni and unrivaled fans to make sure that we protect our great traditions here at Alabama,” Byrne said. “But there’s a time for talk and a time for action. Now is a time for action.”

Alabama signed the No. 4 recruiting class in the FBS, trailing only Oregon and SEC rivals Texas and Georgia, according to ESPN Recruiting. The Tide flipped quarterback Keelon Russell from SMU and safety Ivan Taylor from Michigan.

Alabama has lost 14 scholarship players to the portal so far.

Defensive tackle Jehiem Oatis, the No. 1 defensive player in ESPN’s transfer rankings, left the program in early October and is transferring to Colorado.

The Crimson Tide also lost starting defensive back DeVonta Smith to Notre Dame.

Four wide receivers — Kobe Prentice (Baylor), Kendrick Law, Caleb Odom and Emmanuel Henderson Jr. — have left the program, and backup quarterback Dylan Lonergan is transferring to Boston College. Running back Justice Haynes has also entered the portal.

Byrne encouraged Alabama fans to give to “Yea Alabama,” the athletic department’s NIL entity, and noted the school was focused “on providing our fans with a legitimate product rather than booster inducements.”

“At Alabama, we’ve not measured ourselves against our competition,” Byrne said. “We are the standard, and that measurement is against the mirror and against a rich and proud history, but it’s impossible to ignore what is taking place in college athletics. Hungry fan bases are acting decisively to give their respective programs competitive advantages. We must respond. We are Alabama.”

The Crimson Tide play Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31 (noon ET/ESPN, ESPN+).

ESPN’s Max Olson contributed to this report.

Colorado has signed Liberty transfer quarterback Kaidon Salter, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The Buffaloes are bringing in one of the most accomplished dual-threat quarterbacks in college football to compete for the chance to be Shedeur Sanders‘ successor in 2025. Salter started 29 games for the Flames and earned Conference USA MVP honors in 2023 while leading the program to a 13-1 season.

Salter has one remaining season of eligibility. He will compete with five-star freshman Julian Lewis, the second overall recruit in the 2025 ESPN 300, for the starting role as Colorado looks to replace Sanders, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and potential first overall draft pick.

Salter has accounted for 6,438 total yards of offense and 66 touchdowns during his two seasons in Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell’s spread option system. He has rushed for 1,676 yards since 2023, second among FBS quarterbacks behind Army‘s Bryson Daily (2,433).

In 2023, Salter led the first perfect regular season in Liberty history while throwing a school-record 32 touchdown passes. The Flames won the Conference USA title in their first season in the league and earned a New Year’s Six bowl bid in the Fiesta Bowl against Oregon. Liberty finished No. 25 in the final AP poll following a 45-6 loss to the Ducks.

Salter threw for 1,886 yards, rushed for 587 yards and scored 22 total touchdowns for the Flames during an 8-3 run this season. The Cedar Hill, Texas, native announced Dec. 2 that he planned to transfer and visited Syracuse before deciding to play for coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes.

After a breakthrough 9-3 season and a No. 23 finish in the College Football Playoff rankings, Colorado is looking to reload its roster via the transfer portal as Sanders and Heisman Trophy-winning two-way star Travis Hunter depart for the NFL.

The Buffaloes landed former Alabama defensive lineman Jehiem Oatis, the No. 1 defensive player in ESPN’s transfer rankings, earlier this week and have also secured commitments from tight end Zach Atkins (Northwest Missouri State), offensive lineman Carter Miller (UL Monroe), linebacker Reginald Hughes (Jacksonville State) and kicker Buck Buchanan (Louisiana Tech).

The Buffaloes will face No. 17 BYU in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28. The Big 12 opponents did not meet during the regular season and were part of a four-way tie for first place in the league standings.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR over an antitrust complaint were granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday that allows them to compete as chartered teams in the 2025 season.

23XI Racing, the team owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports refused in September to sign take-it-or-leave it revenue sharing offers made by NASCAR just 48 hours before the start of the playoffs.

A charter is essentially a franchise and guarantees prize money, a spot in the field each week, and other protections.

The teams had filed an antitrust suit alleging NASCAR is “monopolistic bullies” and had been denied in federal court in November a request to be recognized as “chartered” teams as the suit continues.

23XI and Front Row can now sign the charter agreements and still pursue the lawsuit. They also each were granted permission to purchase additional charters from Stewart Haas Racing, which closed its four-team shop at the end of the 2024 season, and NASCAR must approve the transfers to those teams.

” YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!” Hamlin wrote on social media.

It was needed win for 23XI. Tyler Reddick, who finished fourth in the 2024 Cup standings, had an opt-out clause in his contract that would have gone into effect Wednesday and made him a free agent if the team did not have a charter for next season.

Jordan had said he took the fight to court on behalf of all teams competing in the top motorsports series in the United States. NASCAR had argued that the two teams simply do not like the terms of the final charter agreement and asked for the lawsuit be dismissed.

Both Front Row and 23XI want to expand from two full-time cars to three, and have agreements with SHR to purchase one charter each. SHR is now Haas Factory and has a charter for one car in 2025.

Until Wednesday’s injunction, 23XI and Front Row would have been forced to compete next season as “open” teams that don’t have the same protections or financial gains that come from holding a charter.

The teams contend they must be chartered under some of their contractual agreements with current sponsors and drivers, and competing next year as open teams will cause significant losses.

Earlier this month, the suit was transferred to a different judge than the one who heard the first round of arguments and ruled against the two teams in their request for a temporary injunction to be recognized in 2025 as chartered teams as the case proceeds.

“Here, the public interest strongly favors entry of a limited preliminary injunction in favor of the Plaintiffs during the 2025 NASCAR race season, both to give fans of stock car racing the opportunity to watch (and root for and against) the full slate of teams and to allow Plaintiffs’ antitrust legal challenges to be considered,” Judge Kenneth D. Bell wrote.

Front Row is owned by businessman Bob Jenkins, while 23XI is owned by Jordan, Hamlin and longtime Jordan adviser Curtis Polk.

Jenkins had told The Associated Press in October that the two teams stood to miss out on $45 million in combined revenue if they competed as un-chartered teams. But he was willing to do so for Front Row because he believed the case against NASCAR was winnable.

NASCAR had been operating with 36 chartered teams and four open spots since the charter agreement began in 2016.

NASCAR can appeal the ruling.

“The availability of multiple sports in the United States says nothing about NASCAR’s control of a major one of them in the same way that the availability of professional basketball and football did not lead to a finding that the NCAA was not a monopolist,” the judge ruled.