Quick hits following Alabama football's spring game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Saturday afternoon, Alabama fans finally got a chance to see their favorite team take the field for the annual A-Day Game. The weather was overcast with some light showers, but there was still enough wiggle room in there for at least a couple of offensive and defensive fireworks.

With a final score of 25-7, the White Team (first-team defense) handled the Crimson Team (first-team offense) with relative ease. In some ways, that’s to be expected with the defense having a lot more experience returning after being last year’s national champion runner-ups.

Below, you’ll find my initial thoughts from A-Day.

• Despite being in a black, non-contact jersey, starting safety DeMarcco Hellams participated in the game and mostly ran in his usual spot with the first-team defense. That said, rising junior Brian Branch — the starter at Alabama’s Star position — replaced Hellams some when the starting defense went with its base package.

• Speaking of Star, we mostly saw true freshman Trequon Fegans playing there for the Crimson Team. Malachi Moore ran with the ones for that group, but we had heard Fegans could play corner or safety this spring. In a lot of ways, Star is a mixture of both. His presence there adds a little more depth to that position, especially if a starter at safety gets hurt and either Branch or Moore slides over.

• Defensive back Kristian Story continues to make plays on the back half of Alabama’s defense. After securing 2 interceptions (almost 3) in the second scrimmage last Saturday, he added another one during A-Day on an overthrown ball from sophomore Jalen Milroe. While there’s still some room for improvement, Story also showed a willingness to come up and make tackles in space.

• Speaking of Milroe, the Texas native showed fans what all the buzz has been about this spring. He wasn’t perfect, especially statistically, but he did a nice job of extending plays, seeing the field and working through his progressions when necessary. Despite the dreary weather, he completed 11 of his 23 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown to go along with 32 rushing yards. His best play came on a beautiful 52-yard scoring strike to Christian Leary in the second quarter.

• We’ve talked a lot this spring about Alabama needing to identify an interior pass rusher to complement what’s expected on the edges. Well, they might’ve found that guy, as third-year Jamil Burroughs had 2 sacks on Saturday. I guess we now know why he’s been running as the lone defensive lineman in that new package alongside those top-3 edges (Will Anderson, Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell).

• In total, the four players above combined to have 9 sacks. Granted, some of that is the result of a two-hand touch approach on A-Day, but needless to say, the pass rush was encouraging. Projected starter Jaylen Moody also added a sack for the White Team from his linebacker spot, bringing the total to 10 on the day.

• The running backs were an interesting bunch. It took a while for us to see Jahmyr Gibbs in the backfield alongside Bryce Young, but it only took nine carries for the Georgia Tech transfer to make his presence known. He finished with 100 yards rushing on the day, including a 75-yard scoring scamper that perfectly encapsulated his speed. Meanwhile, Trey Sanders did his best Najee Harris impression on a hurdle and freshman Jamarion Miller — despite getting little-to-no room to run — looked the part physically.

• One move that I found interesting was fourth-year defensive lineman Braylen Ingraham getting some reps with the first-team defense. Granted, some of that could be the result of the roster being split up and a rotation still needing to happen along the defensive front, but Ingraham made a couple of plays, including a tackle for loss. I won’t lock him into a role in the fall just yet, but it’s something worth monitoring.

• Drops continue to be an issue for Alabama’s pass-catchers, especially sophomore wide receiver JoJo Earle. It’s a problem that Nick Saban has talked about a few times this spring, and it clearly carried over into Saturday. The Crimson Tide will have to clean those up prior to the start of the season.

• Special teams, while limited during A-Day, were also a positive. Both Will Reichard and Jack Martin finished 3-for-3 on field goal attempts, including four from 40 yards or more. In fact, all of Reichard’s attempts were more than 40 yards with a long of 44.