Happy Friday, everyone. Alabama announced the date for this year’s A Day game, with more details yet to come.
Alabama’s 2025 A-Day will be held at Bryant-Denny Stadium April 12, Yea Alabama, the Crimson Tide’s Name, Image and Likeness collective, announced Friday.
More information, including start time and game format, will be announced at a later date.
The A Day spring game will be the first chance for Crimson Tide fans to see Alabama’s 18 early enrollees from the 2025 recruiting class including five-star quarterback Keelon Russell, the highest-rated quarterback signee since Bryce Young.
The battle behind center will, of course, be on everyone’s minds. Ty Simpson and Keelon Russell get all the buzz, but Austin Mack shouldn’t be counted out.
Mack is the lowest-rated prospect in Alabama’s quarterback room but he’s no slouch. The former four-star recruit checked in as the No. 73 overall prospect and No. 8 quarterback in the 2023 class (higher than Eli Holstein, Avery Johnson) and has more experience in DeBoer’s offense than anyone after spending his freshman season at Washington. He looked good in limited action against Mercer, completing 2 of 3 passes for 39 yards and a touchdown.
“Tremendous,” offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said of Mack’s development during fall camp in August. “He’s an incredible worker and a very committed football player. He has poured into it, and he keeps getting better and better. His best football is still ahead of him, which is super exciting.”
Kid is huge, has a big arm, has shown promise, and has a couple of years in the system.
Charlie Potter examined the returning production on this year’s squad.
Alabama lost five offensive starters and four on the defensive side of the football from its 2024 team. While the Crimson Tide received good news with several key contributors coming back for another year, the overall depth was impacted by the 23 players who transferred. Some familiar faces will be back in Tuscaloosa, but productive spots still need to be filled.
Taking a closer look at the stats, we broke down Alabama leaders in six categories – passing, rushing, receiving, tackles, sacks and interceptions – and how much returns in 2025.
This is a cool story about the walk-on process for Alabama football.
“I would say I’m a pretty fast guy and fairly athletic,” Burger said. “We weren’t messing with any footballs tonight, so I think I looked pretty (good) and I think I didn’t do too bad, honestly.”
Football experience was not needed for Baughn either, who navigated blocking and agility drills and who was complimented for his strength, movement and technique on pad drills.
All Baughn said he wanted out of the tryout was to learn, to grow and to meet new people. And he left Tuesday’s workout with one major takeaway.
“There (were) a lot of very athletic guys,” Baughn said. “A lot of talent at the University of Alabama.”
Last, Mo D has gotten plenty of attention after his recent breakout. Plenty of hard work went into his improvement.
Although his improved physique is obvious in the upper body, he logged plenty of offseason time strengthening his legs for more explosiveness. In that respect, Dioubate said much of his work with Barrera involved more basketball-functional exercises rather than traditional means, like squats.He cut down on soda and fast food in his diet as well, relying more on a prescribed nutrition program under UA Athletics dietician Amanda Branson.
“He was never weak, but now, he’s (really) strong. You can’t move him,” said Oats. “You look at our bigs, Cliff (Omoruyi) is obviously pretty tough and strong. (Aiden) Sherrell’s a big boy, Mo D, Chris Youngblood’s a strong guard. There are some guys on our team that are hard to move and he’s probably at the top of that list, and I think you can see it some of these tough games, (like) A&M or Houston. When we need some toughness, his minutes have gone up.”
There is never a time that you don’t need some toughness.
That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.
Roll Tide.
