Justin Eboigbe says he just wanted to come back as “a better version of myself.”

It’s the goal that helped push the Alabama defensive end through all the rehab from an injury that ended his 2022 season, the weeks in a neck brace and numerous hours wearing a bone stem device.

Eboigbe has come back better than ever. He returned from a neck injury that sidelined him for most of last season with easily his best year, earning individual accolades and helping to give himself and the Crimson Tide chances for a happier ending.

“During the whole rehab, I just kept knowing that I was going to show a better version of myself than what I last did,” said Eboigbe, who also recently received a master’s degree in sports management. “That was my whole focus, my whole goal, my whole mind-set each day attacking rehab. And I just hoped that I could prove what I’ve been saying and telling myself.”