By Amanda Scurlock for Los Angeles Sentinel
Originally published March 5, 2026
Freshman defensive back Dijon Lee Jr. helped the Alabama Crimson Tide football team be one of the best programs in the country. He contributed to all 15 games this season while earning five starts.
Lee finished the season with 22 solo tackles, 34 total stops, 4.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions.
His efforts earned him a spot on the Freshman All-SEC Team. A proud moment for Lee was when he learned he was a finalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award.
“It was just a surreal moment,” Lee said. “[I have] been working all my life for it and it’s starting to come to me.”
Another proud moment was when he secured his first interception of the season during their game against Missouri in October.
“Whenever I seen the ball coming at me, I was like ‘I can’t drop this one,’ because I dropped the first one during the game,” Lee said. “I was a little mad at myself, but the opportunity came back to me, and I was able to seal the game.”
Lee is studying business at Alabama and is on track to earn his bachelor’s degree in three years.
“Since I was early enrolled, I took three or four business classes so far,” he said. “You just put your head down and do the work, and everything is gonna come to you.”
Despite all the business classes he took, Lee enjoyed taking an English class the most. The class allowed him to indulge in his passion for writing.
“It was good, just able to jot down a lot of notes, just write down a lot of things that I was thinking about,” he said. “Writing has helped me, letting me express myself. If I don’t really want to say too much or talk about it, I can write it down.”
Lee is a native of Carson, California; he started playing football at 5 years old. He also competed for the Carson Colts Pop Warner team.
“I learned a lot from my coaches, I still talk to them to this day,” Lee said. “It taught us a lot about winning and how to win and always being disciplined and doing what you’re supposed to do.”
Having veteran teammates from the Southern California area, like Domani Jackson and Zabien Brown, helped Lee get acclimated to being a college student athlete.
“Playing football, I always love the game … each day at practice, I learn from my teammates and my coach,” he said. “Me and [Abduall Sanders Jr.], we played at Carson together … I knew him since we both started playing, since we were 5 years old.”
In the future, Lee aspires to be the best athlete he can be and earn a master’s degree.
