SEC Breakout Players for 2026: Alabama DB Dijon Lee
We continue our week-long series about breakout players with another former five star stepping into a starting role, Alabama cornerback Dijon Lee.
Lee is a former five-star that’s built similarly to DJ Pickett at LSU. He’s not as tall as Pickett at 6-foot-4, but he’s bigger physically at 204 pounds.
Pickett started five games his freshman season and was named to the All-SEC Freshman team. He finished the year with 34 tackles, two interceptions and five pass breakups. A deeper dive into some of the PFF analytics shows just how high the ceiling can be and how elite his numbers were during his first year on campus.
Like any freshman, Lee had his struggles, but the potential is palpable. He finished second on the team in PBUs (5) and forced incompletions with five. His forced incompletions per target percentage of 16 percent was the highest of any member of last year’s secondary.
We talked to long time talent evaluator and host of LockedOn Bama, Jimmy Stein who had this to say about Lee.
“Not only is Dijon freakishly long and athletic, clearly he’s a quick study. It only took him one half of one season playing college football to beat out a returning starter senior for the job. And that guy went on to become a sixth round pick in the Draft. Dijon feels like one of those Seahawk Legion of Boom guys got lost looking for Seattle. But he found Tuscaloosa.”
Last season Alabama returned Zabien Brown and Domani Jackson along with both safeties Keon Sabb and Bray Hubbard. Jackson was a former five star from California just like Lee. As Stein referenced, Lee beat out Jackson halfway through the season. He didn’t allow a single reception in three of his last five starts, and he finished with an 80.2 pass coverage grade according to PFF.
Similar to last year, Lee will be a part of what might be the best secondary in America. The corner opposite of him will be manned by Zabien Brown who is a projected first round pick. The safety position will be held down by two preseason All-SEC players as well. Lee is the least experienced player in the secondary and will most likely be targeted more than anyone else in the back end of the defense. That should bode well for the former five star who will show up on the stat sheet a lot this year. Additionally, he may be a weapon in the return game for Alabama after returning two punts for a 16 yard average.
Alabama is not as star-studded as it has been in previous seasons, but Dijon Lee could emerge as the brightest star they have in a loaded secondary in year two in Tuscaloosa.
