Alabama Football to Hold "Quite a Few Guys" Out of 2021 A-Day Game

Nick Saban wasn't interested in talking about the details of any injuries and hinted that one quarterback might be out of Saturday's A-Day Game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football has been without a number of players this spring due to previous injuries, wide receiver John Metchie III, offensive linemen Emil Ekiyor Jr. and Pierce Quick, defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis and defensive back Malachi Moore, to name a few. 

On Thursday afternoon, the Crimson Tide completed its 14th and final spring practice, ahead of the 2021 Golden Flake A-Day Game on Saturday, coach Nick Saban revealed that the team will hold a number of guys out of the annual event. 

"We will hold some guys out there will be, you know quite a few guys out of the game, but this is going to be a game where a lot of the young players, you know, really get an opportunity to play," Saban told the media via Zoom. "We'll probably make it pretty simple on offense and defense so that you know guys can go out there and play fast and, you know, sort of, show us what they can do."

Last weekend after the second spring scrimmage, Saban revealed to the media that offensive linemen Evan Neal and Javion Cohen were both dealing with injuries of their own. 

Neal exited the scrimmage with an undisclosed injury, while Cohen suffered a bone spur, but it was not considered serious. On Thursday evening, Saban was not interested in speaking about injuries. 

"No I don't," Saban said. "I'm not going to talk about injuries. I'm not going to talk about status of players. If we're playing in the playoffs, I might say whether they were going to play or not. 

"If they play, it's going to be an opportunity for them to improve and get better. If they don't, it's going to be an opportunity for the guys behind them to play and get better. So either way we win. So I don't think it's significant."

However, Saban did hint that one quarterback might be out of the annual spring game, which will kick off at noon inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and be televised on ESPN, and that sophomore signal caller Bryce Young would indeed be working with the first team offense. 

“Bryce is the quarterback for right now, so he’s gonna operate with the first team,” Saban said. “There’s competition at the position, but in order for guys to get a lot of reps, the next guy has to play with the next guy. We may have one guy out, so one guy may not be able to practice.

“What you see in this game really doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of figuring out the depth chart and all that because there’s gonna be a lot of guys missing. So how we play guys in this game doesn’t necessarily mean anything relative to next year.”