The University of Alabama football team took part in its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The scrimmage lasted for a little over two hours with temperatures hanging in the upper 40s for most of the day.

“The players tried to communicate and execute,” Saban said. “I think several players made plays, and like you would expect in a first scrimmage, there were probably some other plays that we could have made that we wish we had back, but if we didn’t have those plays, we wouldn’t need to practice. All in all, I was pleased with the effort. I was pleased with the toughness that the players played with. I think they were able to sustain in the scrimmage, played the next play when things didn’t go well, and there are a lot of good things for everyone to learn from.”

The scrimmage was Alabama’s first of the spring, and the eighth of 15 spring practice sessions that will include one more closed scrimmage and the annual Golden Flake A-Day Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium on April 21 at 1 p.m. CT. The game will air live on ESPN with Adnan Virk, Joey Galloway, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe calling the action.

The Crimson Tide scrimmaged for roughly 130 plays after heavy rains drenched the Tuscaloosa area overnight.

“I think the conditions were a little bit rough out there in terms of the wind,” Saban said. “I thought it was wet. When the rye grass gets wet, it’s a little bit slick, so there was some slipping and sliding. To use an old (Bill) Belichick term, you just tell players ‘You’ve got to get some shoes that work.’ Other than that, I thought the hitting was good. The effort was good.”

Alabama will return to the practice field on Monday afternoon, holding a trio of practices next week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before holding its second scrimmage of the spring next Saturday.

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