On Saturday, Alabama football staged its first autumn scrimmage. Coach Kalen DeBoer stated that it was Alabama’s largest scrimmage before the fall season, and it was the team’s first visit back to Bryant-Denny Stadium since A-Day.

DeBoer remarked after the scrimmage, “It’s good to be out there, scrimmage one in the stadium.” It’s good to be aware of your surroundings and grow accustomed to them. Since the spring game, it has been.

According to DeBoer, the Crimson Tide ran roughly 102 plays, give or take, with the threes accounting for the remaining snaps and the ones and twos playing about 81 snaps. After eight fall workouts, including Saturday’s scrimmage, one thing has stuck out to DeBoer: less penalties.

DeBoer stated, “I think we did a better job today.” “Coming to think about it, I actually did a very excellent job. I’m not sure how many, but not many. The guys were just getting the rhythm and tempo down while playing ball outside. sincerely attempting to make the most of my time here.”

Additionally, according to DeBoer, there were no false starts throughout the scrimmage, which occasionally cost the Crimson Tide in the previous season.

“In terms of procedure, I’m not sure if there were any offensive false starts, unlawful formations, or moves. I believe we were fairly clean there, if there was one—perhaps it was one I can’t recall.” DeBoer stated. This is where we really concentrated in on the mental errors, or what I would call a dumb penalty, where we’re just not smart. Therefore, I believe that we also moved forward with the other penalties. Not much from a holding, I’m not sure if any holding calls were made. We experienced a type of illegal blockback, or crackback block, which was beneficial for us to experience because it allowed us to discuss and draw lessons from it. Perhaps one pass interference.”

The Crimson Tide had a serious penalty problem at times in 2023. They committed 78 penalties for 655 yards last season, or 46.79 yards per game. Against Texas A&M at Kyle Field at one point in the season, Alabama gave up 14 penalties for 99 yards.

DeBoer and his staff have placed a strong emphasis on playing procedurally sound and lining up where they are meant to during fall camp, and it appears that the Crimson Tide players are picking up on this.

According to DeBoer, “the penalties were really down and minimal.” “I like that we’re moving in an aggressive manner and that we have a sense of urgency.” The guys are doing a great job with all the procedures we have in place because they are all getting set up.”

On August 31, Alabama will meet Western Kentucky at Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium to kick off the 2024 campaign.