Nick Saban could find himself inside Bryant-Denny Stadium for No. 2 Alabama’s game against No. 3 Georgia after all. After testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, Saban registered a negative COVID-19 test on Thursday, the university announced in a release Friday.

"Coach Saban was evaluated again today by Dr. Robinson,” Alabama head trainer Jeff Allen said in the release. "He continues to be asymptomatic and without fever. We are continuing to follow the SEC Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force Protocol for testing asymptomatic positives. A PCR test was repeated Thursday by the SEC appointed lab and was negative.

“For clarification, the initial positive result came from an outside lab we’ve used to supplement the SEC mandated testing. He will continue to remain in isolation and receive daily PCR tests. Should he have three negative PCR tests through the SEC appointed lab, each 24 hours apart, the initial test would be considered a false positive pursuant to SEC protocols and he would be allowed to return.”

According to the SEC’s Medical Guidance Task Force, "If the individual has three (3) successive negative PCR tests, and remains asymptomatic, they may be released from isolation and medically cleared to return to athletics activities only.”

Friday’s release did not indicate if Saban received another negative result on that day. However, if the head coach does test negative on Friday and Saturday, he’ll be cleared to coach during Saturday night’s game.

If Saban is unable to coach Alabama Saturday night, offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will take on the head coach’s duties on the field while still calling the offense. Sarkisian has previous experience as a head coach at Southern California (2014-15) and Washington (2009-13).

“I think philosophically we’re very close in terms of how we think about those situations,” Saban said during his weekly radio show Thursday night. “He’s a very bright guy. All the time he was a head coach, he was a play-caller. So it won’t affect him from that standpoint. It won’t take away from his play-calling ability.”

If Saban is not cleared, NCAA rules state that he is prohibited from communicating “anything related to coaching purposes” from a location other than the press box. Saban voiced his displeasure with that rule Thursday night.

“I would hate not to be at the game Saturday if that’s what this turns out to be,” Saban said. “I would hate not to at least have a headset where I could communicate with the sidelines, even if you’re in the press box in isolation, even if you couldn’t go in the locker room and communicate with the players. You could still Zoom with the players. There’s ways to do this where you wouldn’t be putting anybody in harm’s way.”

Alabama and Georgia are set for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff which will be televised nationally on CBS.