Alabama football will hold its second scrimmage of its 2024 preseason camp Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. As Kalen DeBoer’s debut season as the Crimson Tide’s head coach inches ever closer, it’s getting more and more crucial for his team to get things tightened up.

There’s plenty to like about the 2024 Alabama squad, but there’s also no shortage of questions. Here’s three of them, for the Tide to answer in Saturday’s scrimmage.

Can the defense start faster?

According to defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, Alabama’s offense got going fast in the first scrimmage. It makes sense, given that the offense can script out its first plays, a distinct advantage.

Still, Wommack wanted to see the defense perform better in that area going forward.

“If we can limit them in the first drive of the game it creates a little bit of doubt in their mind in the things they’ve been working all week long,” Wommack said. “But our offense did a really good job in that.”

Wommack said the Crimson Tide defense responded well after the early offense. Still, the second scrimmage represents another opportunity to his unit to shut down the Alabama offense from the beginning.

Can the offense eliminate negative plays?

Offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan’s major concern after Alabama’s first scrimmage was eliminating negative plays. Sheridan offered a list of ways those could occur.

“There’s lots of layers to that,” Sheridan said. “Whether it’s a presnap penalty, whether it’s a missed block, whether it’s a poor decision by a quarterback or a receiver not running the right route or whatever it may be.”

The need to eliminate those goes hand-in-hand with a point DeBoer made after the first scrimmage. The Crimson Tide needs to avoid “foolish penalties.”

Alabama won’t run as many plays in the second scrimmage, making the need to keep the negatives to a minimum even more crucial. How much can UA tighten things up for Saturday?

What will happen in the tackle battle?

It seems Kadyn Proctor has re-cemented his place at left tackle for the Crimson Tide after his brief dalliance with Iowa this offseason. Things are less settled on the right.

Over there, Wilkin Formby and Elijah Pritchett are battling for the job. Based on what the coaches have to say, it could be a while before they determine a starter.

Saturday’s scrimmage represents another opportunity for one of the two competitors to jump ahead.

“I know this seems so simple but the guy that plays the best,” Sheridan said of what he was looking for in the competition. “The guy that plays well consistently in all areas. You know, this is an unforgiving league. We all know that you can’t hide, so you know, you need quality play up front. Whether it’s in the run game and pass protection. I have belief in the players that are competing and now it’s a matter of who does it the most consistently.”