TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Kalen DeBoer’s first A-Day at Alabama will feature a different format.
During Nick Saban’s 17-year tenure, the Crimson Tide paired up its first-team offense and second-team defense on one team and its first-team defense and second-team offense on the other. This year, DeBoer said he does not plan to split up his team and will instead work the entire offense against the entire defense.
“We won’t have divided teams,” DeBoer said during his post-practice press conference Thursday. “A couple reasons. No. 1, I like to look at it as a practice No. 15. We’ll see a lot of great scrimmaging out there, but it’s a chance for us to get better. It’s a chance for us to take the next step, a chance for us to evaluate as well.
“We’re trying to really get down to the bare bones of playing football. It gives us a chance to really also celebrate what we’re doing and where we’re at and enjoy the moment with the fans.”
Saban previously explained his split team approach, stating the point was to “make it as much like a real game as we can.” While DeBoer is straying from his predecessor's format, he is sticking with a few traditions. Among those is the stakes of the scrimmage, which will see the winning team eat steak and the losing team served beans and hotdogs.
That being said, the first-year head coach joked he still has a few things to learn.
“When I talked to the guys about the steak dinner, I referred to it as ‘beanies and weenies,’ or something, a slip of the tongue,” DeBoer said with a smile. “Of course, we had a good little laugh out there on the field.“There’s some traditions that the guys certainly bring up that have been important, that they feel strong about. I’m still learning some of those things that haven’t really come up yet. You’re still learning some of those really neat things that are important to these guys because it happened in the program for many years.”
A university representative confirmed there will be a scoring system that will allow the defense to generate points during the A-Day scrimmage. The exact rules and regulations of that system have not been announced.
Alabama held its 14th practice of spring camp on Thursday. The Crimson Tide will conclude its camp with the A-Day game on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The scrimmage will be aired on ESPN.
