Alabama AD: 'The plan is, at this point, to have a full spring practice'

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After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alabama is planning to have an A-Day Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium this spring, according to director of athletics Greg Byrne.

However, the annual spring game -- which is usually free for Crimson Tide fans to attend -- will be a ticketed event because of limited-capacity seating inside the 100,000-seat stadium.

“The plan is, at this point, to have a full spring practice, to have an A-Day,” said Byrne in a Facebook Live interview with the Crimson Tide Sports Network on Friday. “It’s not done yet, but we’re probably gonna end up having to ticket the event because we will have to limit capacity somewhere probably in the 20-25 percent range. We haven’t finalized that yet, working through those details, but we are gonna have it, which we didn’t have last year, so that’s another good step for us.”

Alabama hasn’t announced a start date for its spring practice or the 2021 A-Day Game, but the final scrimmage of the 15-practice spring slate is expected to take place Saturday, April 17.

The Crimson Tide was unable to hold a single spring practice last year due to the pandemic but managed an SEC-only schedule to win the program’s 18th national championship and sixth title in the last 12 years. However, 15 spring practices will benefit UA’s new additions, whether that’s the 15 new players that enrolled early or the five new on-field assistant coaches.

According to Byrne, there will be spring football in Tuscaloosa, and the athletic director is optimistic a return to normalcy is on the horizon for both college athletics and life in general.

“We are still talking to our medical task force from the SEC,” Byrne said. “A couple of them met with the ADs last week. They gave us an update. There’s concern about the variants right now that are out there and trying to understand what they mean. Their message was we’re making progress, but you also can’t put all your guards down. You still have to be vigilant with this.

“As more and more people are getting vaccinated, I’m starting to hear some more encouraging things from eventually, hopefully getting rid of masks and not having it be where if somebody has been exposed and they got vaccinated, hopefully, that’s gonna allow them not to have to be quarantined. And those are all positive steps that we need to take in order to get back to normal. But I’m sitting here more optimistic that we are gonna get back to normal here sooner than later.”

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