Hugh Freeze hints at momentum towards doing away with spring camp

Amid the string of canceled or altered Spring games, including Auburn‘s announcement earlier Tuesday that its annual A-Day Spring game would “look more like a traditional practice” on April 12, Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze believes even more drastic changes could be on the way for Spring football.

Freeze suggested there “might be momentum” building within the college football world to completely end Spring football camp entirely, with the third-year Auburn coach desiring more of an NFL model with OTAs (organized team activities) held in June, according to AuburnLive’s Justin Hokanson. Freeze also suggested the day and age of Power Four teams holding televised Spring games could also be nearing an end, with teams warry of rivals poaching their players in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Hugh Freeze says there "might be momentum" around doing away with spring camp. Freeze wants OTAs in June and do away with spring camp. Freeze also says with the portal, the days of televising a spring game seem to be coming to an end. https://t.co/RsUfFsAkhL

— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) March 25, 2025

College football teams have been holding Spring practices since the late 1800s, and is believed to date back to Harvard in 1889. Michigan held its first-ever Spring football game in 1925 but the tradition didn’t become prevalent until after World War II, with Ohio State holding its first Spring scrimmage in 1946 and Nebraska following suit in 1950. In 1998, the NCAA passed sweeping reforms to Spring football, including standardizing the 15-practice limit across 34 days with limited contact, effectively ending the brutal “Junction Boys” practice format made famous by Texas A&M (and later Alabama) head coach Bear Bryant in the mid-1950s.

Auburn announces major changes for spring game, A-Day format

Auburn’s decision to do away with its actual intrasquad scrimmage to end its Spring practice schedule follows similar moves taking place all across college football, beginning with Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule‘s announcement on Feb. 1 that the Cornhuskers were canceling their annual Spring game citing tampering concerns.

Auburn becomes the 19th Power Four program to announce plans to do away with the traditional spring game format, joining Alabama, Arizona, Florida State, Iowa, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas and USC, among others, according to a list compiled by On3.

While not a tradtional Spring scrimmage, Auburn’s A-Day event on April 12 will still be open to the public, and will begin at 11 am CT with an alumni flag football game and a Tiger Walk at 11:30 am. The A-Day practice will start at noon CT and run for an hour, according to the release.

Following the practice, Auburn will host a post-practice Fan Day autograph session with head coach Hugh Freeze and Auburn players on Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium and last about 90 minutes. This will take the place of the annual Fan Day event usually held in August during Fall camp.