It’s going to be a sad day in college football if spring games fold up and vanish on a widespread, permanent basis.
I don’t want to see it happen. Players don’t want to see it happen. Fans don’t want to see it happen. And Tuscaloosa businesses most definitely don’t want to see it happen, because crowds won’t gather for an open practice — not even at Alabama — the way they’ll flock to a full-scale, score-kept scrimmage.
Unfortunately, what’s missing in all that collective sentiment for competitive April spring games are the decision-makers on the topic: coaches. Their only interest is advancing a team’s progress as much as possible on the spring’s 15th and final NCAA-allowed practice, whether it comes in game form or not. And as much as Alabama football’s annual A-Day game is a fine tradition that deserves not to be dumbed down, the Crimson Tide’s continued string of injuries leaves me no choice but to support second-year coach Kalen DeBoer’s decision to scrap an A-Day game in favor of something that will look more like a practice.
The latest of those injuries, to tight ends Josh Cuevas and Marshall Pritchett, leave the Crimson Tide utterly decimated at that position. Are there four healthy bodies that could be deployed two each to Crimson and White teams? Sure, but that doesn’t mean they can all play at a first-string level. And in a live scrimmage, when first-stringers can make fourth-stringers look like just that, it can be disruptive for team progress as a whole. Elsewhere, offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor is only participating in individual drills this spring, leaving DeBoer’s staff with Wilkin Formby on one side and a cast of…
Source link : https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sports/columns/2025/04/04/alabama-football-coach-kalen-deboer-decision-to-scrap-a-day-game-is-justified/82701665007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-04-04 23:08:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
