TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama will wrap up its spring camp Saturday with its A-Day game. The annual spring scrimmage is the culmination of 15 grueling workouts all spent lining up against the same opposition.

That format is practiced across college football as teams conclude their camps by splitting up their squads in front of fans. While often featuring vanilla game plans, the scrimmages provide a first look at how teams could line up in the fall. However, as coaches often point out, the catch-22 nature of playing yourself makes it difficult to get an accurate feel of a team.

Earlier this month, first-year Auburn coach Hugh Freeze reopened an ongoing discussion, suggesting teams be allowed to scrimmage against different opponents. Calling intrasquad scrimmages “wasted days,” Freeze argued that it's difficult to install elements into his game plan without giving away too much in a day and age where everything is televised or streamed across the nation.

Currently, NCAA rules prevent schools from holding scrimmages against different teams. However, Freeze’s proposal is that Auburn and Alabama be allowed to schedule in-state teams opponents such as Troy and UAB for their spring showcases, stating “everybody would get out of it exactly what they want.”

Freeze also proposed that the proceeds from ticket sales be given to charities, similar to the charity exhibitions basketball teams are allowed to play during their preseasons. While stating that he wasn’t aware of Freeze’s proposal, Alabama head coach Nick Saban didn’t totally dismiss the idea when asked about a potential charity game last weekend.

“If that’s the purpose of what they’re doing, that’s certainly a good thing and we try to do a lot of things to create opportunities for people in our foundation and will continue to do that,” Saban said. “If there’s something along those lines in the spring game that would be helpful to somebody, I think it’s a great idea.”

During the Associated Press Sports Editors meeting in Birmingham, Alabama this week, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was broached on the idea of teams playing different opponents during spring games. While keeping an open mind to the proposal, the commissioner brought up a list of valid concerns.

The potential pitfalls include:

— How will scrimmage locations be determined?

— What if states had an uneven amount of in-state schools, leaving some programs without a partnering opponent?

— Which team controls the rules of the scrimmage?

— Will the focus on a different opponent affect the way teams can develop their own players?

Still, the commissioner can see the appeal the potential matchups would offer.

“You’re going through generally 14 spring practices and a spring game, and it’s always the same sweaty faces across the line of scrimmage,” Sankey said. “Perhaps you can build some energy for your team by lining up from time to time who’s sweating just as much but looks a bit different.”

There’s also the matter of revenue. A potential televised matchup between Alabama and UAB might be more appealing to a television broadcaster than the Crimson Tide’s annual intrasquad scrimmage. It’s worth noting that this year’s A-Day game won’t be televised and will instead be streamed by ESPN+.

Sankey snubbed the idea that revenue would play a factor in any decision, stating instead that the players' interest would be the most important factor.

“I don’t think you do a spring game because it’s going to produce revenue,” Sankey said. “I think it provides development and growth opportunity and could be a fun challenge.”

So what do players think of the idea? As far as Alabama’s concerned, the Crimson Tide is fine with the current format.

"It's interesting as a player,” Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “I saw that come about, but at the end of the day, me being in my situation, I feel like this is the best competition that I've faced all year this month. I'm going to be so much better for it because I feel like we have the best players in the nation on both sides of the ball. In my situation, I'd much rather have that A-Day game because I know that I'm not going to get challenged any more than I will this Saturday."

Alabama defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe stated the decision was “above my paygrade” but echoed Booker’s response about the competition the Crimson Tide’s intrasquad scrimmages offer.

“The reason why people come to Bama is to play against the guys that you play against every day in practice,” he said, “because sometimes they may be better than the guys you play on Saturday, so you get that competition level and you get better in that aspect.”