A-Day Takeaways – Pieces Coming Together For Tide’s Offense

Alabama just wrapped up its annual A-Day, and with it, the Crimson Tide is finished with spring practice. The next time Alabama takes the field as a team will be during fall camp. With the conclusion of A-Day, what are some of the takeaways from the Tide's offense?

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First things first, Alabama started in an 11-on-11 period with the first team offense. Starting with specialists then working towards the offensive line, Alabama's first-team offense was:

QB - Ty Simpson
RB - Jam Miller
WR - Isaiah Horton, GermieBernard, Rico Scott
TE - Jay Lindsey
OL - Olaus Alinen, Kam Dewberry, Parker Brailsford, JaedenRoberts, WilkinFormby

Starting with quarterback performance, Ty Simpson looked the proverbial 'best' out of the three options, but it was more so because he made the safest plays. You can see the Nick Saban coaching in the way Simpson was attacking the field - make the safest play. While Simpson did not make any 'wow' plays, he made no mistakes in the open practice. His best play came late in the practice, escaping a defender and stepping up in the pocket before firing a ball to Derek Meadows roughly 15 yards downfield for a completion.

Keelon Russell made a couple of plays that captivated the audience in the stadium with a handful of throws that saw the ball jump out of his hand. The talent is evident from Russell, but so is the inexperience. Russell threw an interception on his first pass of the day in 11-on-11, but settled into the day with some nice completions.

Austin Mack had the toughest time on the day, throwing two interceptions. One came in 11-on-11, where Zabien Brown stepped in front of a telegraphed throw, and the other came in 7-on-7 work, with Abduall Sanders Jr. stepping into the window Mack was throwing into and intercepting the ball. Don't expect a decision to be made anytime soon on Alabama's quarterback battle.

The Tide's run game met a stout defensive front today, with Jam Miller popping a couple of runs longer than 10 yards, but nothing else from any of the other backs. Daniel Hill did not appear at practice, presumably due to precautionary reasons. Freshman AK Dear did have one strong run where he kept his balance and was able to pick up about 10 yards.

The wide receivers will be the biggest strength of this team. While the quarterbacks did a decent job at getting the ball to them, there were several times we saw the receiver make a play on the ball and said, "Wow, what a catch." The most came from 6-foot-5 wide receiver Derek Meadows, who might make it difficult to keep him off the field in the fall. Lotzeir Brooks tried to make some impressive catches, but good defensive play from fellow freshman Dijon Lee prevented Brooks from making more highlight-style catches. Jalen Hale also looked good in his first public action since his freshman season. Ryan Williams did not participate in practice due to precautionary reasons.

The offensive line, while not playing at 100 percent speed, held up well for the Tide. Left tackle Kadyn Proctor rotated his way into positional drills but did not see time in 11-on-11 periods. Kam Dewberry spent the entire afternoon with the first-team offensive line, with Geno VanDeMark being limited in practice. Overall, the offensive line struggled to get push, but with the bodies on the defensive line and the talent there, it may not be a bad thing that the offensive line saw limited success.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.