Tide’s B.J. Stabler giving up football

TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama offensive lineman B.J. Stabler has decided to give up football and is expected to be placed on medical scholarship so he won’t count against the NCAA limit of 85 players.

No official announcement is imminent, in part because Stabler has yet to sign the necessary paperwork.

Stabler, who just finished his junior season, has been limited by constant knee problems. Primarily a guard, the 6-foot-4, 294-pound native of Grove Hill played in seven games last season and started against Tennessee and LSU.

Stabler played in the final nine games of his freshman season, and started the first eight games of 2006 when he was credited with five or more knockdowns seven times for a season total of 48, and took 454 snaps.

“After three years of pain, I’m doing the right thing,” Stabler told the Mobile Press-Register. “I don’t know if I would have been able to go any more.”

Stabler is expected to graduate this summer.