Observations from All 19 Practice Periods of Alabama A-Day

Breaking down the Crimson Tide's last spring practice inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Alabama quarterbacks during 2025 A-Day / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football showcased a new style of A-Day Saturday on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The teams were just split into offense and defense with the offense wearing crimson and the defense wearing white.

There didn't appear to be a lot of fan excitement for this new format. There were no fans in the upper bowl, and the lower bowl of Bryant-Denny was about half full.

The Crimson Tide alternated between scrimmaging and drills for 19 periods of work to wrap up Kalen DeBoer's second spring as the Alabama head coach. Here are some observations from each period.

2025 A-Day Observations

Period 1

• Just stretching and warmups to get things going.
• DeBoer went and dapped up each quarterback as they were laying on the ground stretching.

Period 2

• Some quick scrimmage plays with essentially two-hand touch
• Ty Simpson took the first-team reps at quarterback in the first few scrimmage plays
• Jalen Milroe was interviewed on the field and said his favorite memory in Bryant-Denny Stadium was beating Auburn in his last game
• The first team offensive line from left to right was Olaus Alinen, Kam Dewberry, Parker Brailsford, Jaeden Roberts and Wilkin Formby.

Period 3

• Austin Mack came in as the second quarterback.
• Freshman QB Keelon Russell threw an interception to Ivan Taylor on his first pass.
• The second team offensive line from left to right was Jackson Lloyd, Mal Waldrep Jr., Joseph Ionata, William Sanders and Micahel Carroll.

Period 4

• This period was focused on field goals.
• Conor Talty made his first two kicks from about 21 and 28 yards out, and then missed a 32-yard attempt.
• Reid Shuback got a turn. He made his 21, 28 and 32-yard attempts.
• Talty then got a chance at some longer kicks and made a 34 and 38-yard field goal

Period 5

• The team transitioned to separate offensive and defensive drills split up by position.
• Offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor did not participate in the scrimmaging, but did go through a few offensive line drills during this period.

Period 6

• More drills by position.
• The wide receivers worked on cone drills and route running.

Period 7

• More drills, but some of the position groups combined.
• Quarterbacks started throwing to wide receivers and tight ends with all four quarterbacks throwing simultaneously during the drill and rotating one spot after each throw. It was the same drill they did during Tuesday's media viewing period.
• Malachi Moore was interviewed on the field and said his favorite memory at Alabama was winning the national championship his freshman season.

Period 8

• More drills with offense and defense separated.
• Nice to see Jalen Hale back out there practicing and participating in drills after missing all of last season with an injury. He does have a big brace on his left leg.
• Ryan Williams was not dressed out and did not participate in Saturday's practice.

Period 9

• Deonate Lawson was not dressed out or participating, but was still hanging around the inside linebackers group and seemed to be offering pointers.
• The whole offense started lining up together and going through drills, no longer split up positionally.
• Simpson had a nice pass to Jam Miller. Mack connected with Hale during this period, Russell found Jaylen Mbakwe on a deep ball.

Period 10

• The offense was doing running drills on the north side of the field with the different quarterbacks rotating in for the handoffs.
• On the south side of the field, the quarterbacks were throwing to receivers in one-on-one coverage. Provided the opportunity to really show the skills of the QBs, WRs and DBs.
• First pass was from Simpson to Germie Bernard with Dijon Lee in coverage. Bernard

dropped it in the back of the end zone

• Russell had a gorgeous deep ball to Rico Scott with Bray Hubbard in coverage.
• Mack under threw a ball over the middle to Lotzier Brooks, but then connected with Derek Meadows for a deep ball TD pass.
• Simpson had a nice ball over the middle to Hale.
• Mack over shot a deep ball to Isaiah Horton.
• Red Morgan was really tight in coverage in a play on Mbakwe.
• Russell had another really nice deep ball, this time to Meadows,

Period 11

• This was another scrimmage period with Ty Simpson at first-team QB. Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Williams Sanders took some first-team reps at tight end because of how thin the Tide is at the position.
• Most exciting play of the day happened during this period with a double pass from SImpson back to Bernard who connected with Horton in triple coverage for about a 65-yard touchdown. Lots of celebrations around Bernard after the play.

Period 12

• More scrimmaging, but mostly with the second team.
• Mack did take a few reps with the first team for the first time. He got picked by Zabien Brown, who got some love from Kane Wommack after the interception.
• Most of Alabama’s injured veterans seem to be pretty active in encouraging their teammates.
• The first team defense seemed to consist most often of Brown, Hubbard, Zay Mincey, Cam Calhoun and DaShawn Jones in the defensive backfield. Nikhai Hill-Green and Cayden Jones were the first-team linebackers with Lawson and Justin Jefferson out for the spring. And Qua Russaw, Edric Hill, Tim Keenan and Jah-Marien Latham brought up the defensive front.

Period 13

• This was the beginning of the 7-on-7 drills.
• Simpson was once again the first QB to get reps. He had Jam Miller, Horton, Scott, Bernard and Jay Lindsey as his skill players.
• Mack was with the second group. His first play was a completion to Kevin Riley. He also had a nice completion over the middle to Mbakwe and a sideline completion to Meadows.

Period 14

• More 7-on-7s
• Russell got some reps with the first-team skill players. He zipped in a pass in a tight coverage window over the middle to Bernard.
• While some of the skill guys were doing 7 on 7s, the linemen were doing drills against each other on the north end of the field.
• Ty went back out there for 7 on 7s in the red zone. Simpson air mailed a pass to Hale in the red zone.

Period 15

• Mack went back out there for 7-on-7s. Not a great throw, but great behind-the-back catch by Meadows inside the five.
• Mack got picked off by Abdul Sanders Jr.
• There was a short pass over the middle for a touchdown from Mack to Miller.
• Cole Adams had a leaping grab for a TD on a pass from Russell.
• Russell had another TD pass to Brooks.

Period 16

• Worked on punt/punt returns. Mbakwe, Gernard, Adams and Brooks received punts for the Crimson Tide
• Blake Doud was kicking most of the punts. Other guys were catching balls from the machine.
• Anderson Green also punted some

Period 17

• Continued working on punts/punt return while the offensive lineman did some drills in the end zone.
• Finally got a little “Dixieland Delight” playing in the stadium
  

Period 18

• A few more scrimmage plays of 11 on 11 with the first team
• Feeling a little pressure coming off the edge, Simpson connected on a pass with Lindsey over the middle
• OL coach Chris Kapilovic was really getting on the lineman after giving up a lot of pressure in this period
• Austin Mack gets a few more reps with the second team
• Nice pass from Mack to Hale

Period 19

• Finishing up with more scrimmaging and a few more reps for Simpson
• Nice completion over the middle from Simpson to Meadows. The freshman WR had a good day overall.
• Mack got a few more reps before the clock ran out
• Russell also got one more chance with the second-team offense
• Walk-on Michael Lorino got a long run on the next-to-last play
• Alabama attempted a pass to Sanders on the final play of the scrimmage. DeBoer threw his hands up after Sanders got interfered with and couldn't make the catch

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