If your athlete is a junior or senior with Tuscaloosa at the top of the list, the window that matters is short and it opens in the middle of the high school season. Alabama picked its 2026-27 squad from highlight reels registered between mid November and January 2, then emailed the athletes it still wanted by the end of February. Here is what the program publishes, what it leaves unsaid, what it costs to attend, and how it compares with the four SEC programs families usually apply to alongside it.
Alabama cheer teams and who coaches them
Alabama runs two cheer teams, All Girl and Coed, inside a spirit program that also includes the dance team and the Big Al mascot team. The 2026-27 roster lists 87 members: 32 All Girl, 25 Coed, 25 dance and 5 Big Al. The All Girl team cheers women's basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and home football games. The Coed team cheers every home and away football game and men's basketball. Both compete at UCA College Nationals in Orlando each January, and members are expected to build their class schedule around practice and attend weekly workouts.
Jennifer Thrasher leads the program as director of spirit programs and head coach, a role she has held in some form since she was named coordinator of cheerleading in 2011. Alabama's staff page still shows the 2023-24 staff, so for current assistant names ask the program office directly at the email listed on its registration page.
Alabama cheerleading national championships and recent results
Alabama has eight UCA national championships. Four came in Division IA Large Coed (1984, 2011, 2015 and 2025) and four in Division IA All Girl (2015, 2020, 2022 and 2026). The last five years show a program that finishes near the top in both divisions almost every January.
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| Year | Result | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | All Girl champion, Coed second | All Girl 91.7 by Varsity's scores. Alabama did not compete in 2021. |
| 2023 | All Girl third, Coed sixth | All Girl Partner Stunt second, dance game day third |
| 2024 | All Girl second, Coed second | All Girl 89.3 after a 1.5 deduction to South Florida's 90.2; Coed 96.8 to UCF's 97.3 |
| 2025 | Coed champion, All Girl second | Coed 94.8 to South Florida's 94.6, the first coed title since 2015 |
| 2026 | All Girl champion, Coed fourth | All Girl 93.5 to South Florida's 89.6; three months later, NCA All Girl Group Stunt champion with 96.5333 |
Two details matter to a recruit. First, the coach said after the 2026 win that not a single member of that team had won a national title at Alabama before, so the squad turns over fast and spots open every year. Second, the 2025 Coed title was decided by 0.2 and the 2024 All Girl final by 0.9, which tells you the staff recruits for clean execution of elite skills, not just the skills themselves.
How Alabama cheer tryouts work now
The registration page for 2026-27 was titled Alabama Cheer Recruitment, not tryouts, and it said plainly that the program was not looking to fill many spots. The process ran in five steps.
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| Step | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Get admitted to Alabama | Before any in person stage | Every published cycle requires an acceptance letter or full time enrollment. Without it there is no in person tryout. |
| 2. Register and pay | November 14, 2025 to January 2, 2026 in the last cycle | $34, which is $30 plus a $4 fee, on the official registration page. The upload link arrives by email. |
| 3. Upload the highlight reel | By January 2, 2026, 11:59 pm | Instructions for what to film are emailed to registrants, not posted publicly. |
| 4. Wait for the interest email | By the end of February | Alabama emails the athletes it wants to keep recruiting. Everyone else is done for the year. |
| 5. In person stage and paperwork | Spring, May in the last cycle that published dates | Physical dated within 12 months, athletics insurance form, proof of insurance, GPA check. Travel and housing are on the family. |
The 2027-28 dates were not posted when we checked on October 8, 2026. If the pattern holds, registration opens in mid November, which falls in the middle of football playoffs and the first all star competitions. Families who wait for the page to appear usually end up filming in a rush over the winter break. The safer plan is to have the clips cut by early November.
Older cycles show what the in person stage looks like. In 2023 the reels were due March 20, invitations went out March 24 and in person tryouts ran May 10 and 11, with the new team practicing the next two days. In 2020 tryouts were closed to the public in Foster Auditorium over three days, with interviews if needed. The paperwork list from that cycle is long: a physician's release dated within 12 months, the athletics physical forms, an insurance form and a copy of the insurance card, the acceptance letter, and a signed permission for the athletics department to check the athlete's GPA every semester.
What skills Alabama cheer looks for
Unlike Ole Miss or Kentucky, Alabama does not publish a skills list. The video instructions go only to athletes who register. What you can read from the results is the level: a program that wins Division IA All Girl and Large Coed is selecting from standing fulls, elite running passes and, for coed, toss extensions and one arm stunts. Our Ole Miss cheer guide lists the published SEC skill ladder in detail, and it is a fair proxy for what Tuscaloosa expects.
The practical gap for most applicants is consistency on video. A reel built from competition footage hides the athlete in a crowd of teammates. Clips filmed in a gym, one skill per clip from one fixed angle, are what a coach can judge quickly when hundreds of reels arrive in the same six weeks. If the standing full is not there yet, a few months of private tumbling lessons before November is the usual fix.
Alabama cheer scholarships and what Alabama costs
Alabama cheerleaders receive scholarship money, but the university does not publish the amount, and no current Alabama page states a figure. The tryout paperwork does make one condition clear: if a member is dismissed or drops below full time status of 12 credit hours, the scholarship money has to be paid back to the university.
Weigh it against the cost of attendance. For 2026-27, Alabama lists tuition and fees of $12,718 for Alabama residents and $36,724 for nonresidents, and a total cost living on campus of $35,392 in state and $60,400 out of state (off campus, $37,446 and $62,554). The $25,008 out of state gap is the number most families from Texas, Georgia or Florida are really solving for. Federal education credits help at the margin: the American Opportunity Tax Credit is worth up to $2,500 a year per student for the first four years, and families who file their taxes online should make sure the tuition statement from the university is entered every spring.
Alabama compared with other SEC cheer programs
Most families aiming at Alabama apply to two or three other SEC programs in the same year. The processes run on different calendars, and only two of the five publish what they pay.
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| School | How the team is picked | Recent results | Scholarship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Highlight reel registration ($34), interest email by end of February, must be admitted | 8 UCA titles, All Girl champion 2026 | Scholarship exists, amount not published |
| Ole Miss | No tryouts: required clinic, $105 video due November 30, 2026, recruit weekends | 4 UCA titles, last in 2025 | Every member gets one, amount not published |
| Kentucky | Invitation only, handed out at two to three clinics a year | 24 UCA Large Coed titles, third in 2026 | Everyone gets some, by GPA, skill, years and need |
| Tennessee | $50 registration and video, campus invite events October to December 2026, team named April 2027 | Fifth in UCA Large Coed 2026 | Up to $1,500 in year one, then $3,000, $5,000 and $7,000 |
| LSU | Clinics plus tryouts, 2027-28 dates not posted | Eighth in UCA Large Coed 2026 | $1,000 in year two, $1,500 in year three, $2,000 in year four |
Put the calendars side by side and the season looks crowded. Ole Miss closes its video window on November 30, Tennessee runs campus invite events from October to December, Alabama's registration has opened in mid November, and Kentucky's invitations come from fall and spring clinics. One set of clips has to serve all four. Tennessee is the only one of the five that publishes a scholarship scale, rising to $7,000 in year four, which gives you a reference point when Alabama or Ole Miss make an offer without a number. The Kentucky cheer guide covers the clinic invitation route, and the colleges with cheerleading scholarships list covers every school we found that publishes a dollar amount.
Other Alabama colleges with cheer
Tuscaloosa is not the only option in the state, and several Alabama programs publish more than Alabama does. South Alabama says it awards cheer scholarships of $500 to $4,000 a semester, typically to 20 to 25 members, and asks high school seniors for an acceptance letter, 12 credit hours and a 2.0 GPA. Jacksonville State held 2026-27 tryouts on April 17 and 18, 2026 for a $50 fee, requires two letters of recommendation, and needs a 3.2 GPA for any cheer scholarship. Auburn takes only students already enrolled there, does not compete, and pays a $900 stipend each semester instead of a scholarship.
At the two year level, Shelton State in Tuscaloosa won the UCA Open Coed title in 2025, its 14th national championship, after 13 straight from 2008 to 2020, and Coastal Alabama South held competitive cheer tryouts on May 8 and 9, 2026. Our JUCO cheer teams page covers how two year programs recruit and how athletes transfer on. Alabama A&M, seventh in Intermediate All Girl at NCA in 2026, is covered with the other HBCU programs in our HBCU cheer teams guide, and the University of Mobile runs an NAIA competitive cheer team, listed with every other program on the NAIA cheer colleges page.
Getting seen before the reel is due
Alabama's process rewards an athlete the staff has already noticed. The reel is the first look, the February email is the cut, and with only a handful of open spots most of them go to athletes who were on someone's list before January. That is true at Ole Miss, Kentucky and Tennessee as well.
A college cheer recruiting profile on Cheerleaders is built for that. It holds the skills videos, position, level, graduation year, GPA and titles, and only coaches with a verified college email can see it. A parent runs the profile for an athlete under 18, and every contact request goes to the parent. The profile is free. Recruiting Pro adds featured placement, up to 10 videos and the list of coaches who viewed the profile, for $39 a month or $228 a year with no contract. The clips you cut for Alabama's November window then work for every other school on the list.
Alabama cheer questions parents ask
How do you try out for Alabama cheer?
Alabama now calls it recruitment rather than tryouts. In the last cycle, athletes registered and uploaded a highlight reel between November 14, 2025 and January 2, 2026 for $34, and Alabama emailed the ones it wanted to keep recruiting by the end of February. Every published cycle also requires admission to the University of Alabama before the in person stage.
When are Alabama cheer tryouts for 2027?
Alabama has not posted the 2027-28 dates as of October 8, 2026. The 2026-27 registration opened November 14, 2025 and closed January 2, 2026, so a mid November opening is the likely pattern, but it is not confirmed. In person tryouts in earlier published cycles were held in May at Foster Auditorium.
Does Alabama give cheerleading scholarships?
Yes, Alabama cheerleaders receive scholarship money, but the university does not publish the amount. Its tryout paperwork says scholarship money must be paid back if a member is dismissed or drops below 12 credit hours. Weigh any offer against a 2026-27 cost of attendance of $35,392 in state and $60,400 out of state living on campus.
How many national championships does Alabama cheer have?
Alabama cheer has eight UCA national championships: Division IA Large Coed in 1984, 2011, 2015 and 2025, and Division IA All Girl in 2015, 2020, 2022 and 2026. The 2026 All Girl team won with 93.5 to South Florida's 89.6, and the All Girl group stunt also won at NCA in April 2026.
How many people are on the Alabama cheer team?
The 2026-27 Alabama spirit squads roster lists 87 members: 32 on the All Girl team, 25 on the Coed team, 25 on the dance team and 5 on the Big Al mascot team. The All Girl team cheers women's basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and home football, and the Coed team cheers all football games and men's basketball.
