Alabama football held its annual A-Day on Saturday, but it looked much different.

The Crimson Tide didn’t hold a game. Instead, Kalen DeBoer and company rolled out a practice. Offense made up the crimson team, and defense made up the white team. A-Day was not broadcast anywhere, but the practice at Bryant-Denny Stadium was open to fans and media.

Even thought it wasn’t near as compelling as A-Day in years past, it still provided a glimpse of some newcomers and what the 2025 team could look like.

Here are our observations from watching the Alabama defense during A-Day.

Alabama football A-Day observations 2025: Defense

— Players stretched once they walked onto the field.

— The first drill was 11 vs. 11. There was no tackling, but the offense and defense ran plays against each other.

— The first group at defense included: defensive linemen Edric Hill, Tim Keenan III and LT Overton; linebackers Nikhai Hill-Green, QB Reese and Qua Russaw; defensive backs Zabien Brown, DaShawn Jones, Dijon Lee Jr., Bray Hubbard and Zay Mincey.

— The first several players who rotated in: linebacker Yhonzae Pierre, linebacker Cayden Jones and linebacker Duke Johnson II.

— It’s worth noting that Alabama was without several players who are expected to be starters because of spring injuries, including Deontae Lawson, Keon Sabb, Domani Jackson and James Smith.

— Eventually, there was a full scale rotation of players down the depth chart, so to speak.

— The second-team defense included players such as: defensive linemen Jeremiah Beaman, Kelby Collins and Jordan Renaud; linebackers Jones, Johnson and Noah Carter; defensive backs Red Morgan, Ivan Taylor, Cam Calhoun, Kameron Howard and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.

— The most notable play of the 11 vs. 11 period: defensive back Ivan Taylor, a freshman, picked off quarterback Keelon Russell right before the end of this period.

— The next period, defensive players, outside of defensive line, rotated through three different tackling drills. That included a wrap-up drill on a moving dummy, tackling into a big pad, and a drill where players run into a big pad that looks like a donut that staffers roll at them. At the end of each period, each position group rotated to a new tackling drill.

— Next, the defenders ran through individual position drills. The defensive backs worked with their coaches, the inside linebackers with their coaches and the Wolf linebackers with their coaches.

— Position drills went on for a while. Then at period 10, the offense and defense came back together to run drills against each other. The front sevens ran run drills against each other. Meanwhile, receivers and defensive backs competed one-on-one on the other side of the field. Quarterbacks rotated between the two drills.

— One of the first reps, Dijon Lee faced Germie Bernard and broke up a deep pass in the end zone from quarterback Ty Simpson.

— The next rep, Bray Hubbard gave up a deep pass to Rico Scott.

— A few reps later, Keelon Russell tried to find Jaylen Mbakwe along the sideline, but the pass was too high with the defensive back in coverage.

— Another rep: Simpson tried to hit Jalen Hale in the end zone on a deep pass, but Calhoun broke it up.

— Another rep: DaShawn Jones was in coverage on freshman Lotzeir Brooks. Brooks broke past him, but the pass was overthrown. Brooks had to try to dive and make the catch but couldn’t.

— Another rep: London Hill gave up a touchdown in the end zone.

— Another rep: Red Morgan provided blanket coverage on Jaylen Mbakwe along the sideline, preventing the completion of a pass.

— Next, the offense and defense all got together for another rep of 11 on 11. The first defense was largely the same, other than the fact that Cayden Jones was in at linebacker to start.

— Germie Bernard threw a touchdown. Yes, a receiver. He got a short pass behind the line of scrimmage, finding Isaiah Horton deep downfield over the middle who ran for a touchdown. It probably should have been intercepted, but the two defensive backs in coverage undercut it.

— Later in the team period, Austin Mack attempted a deep pass, but Zabien Brown saw it coming and picked it off across the middle.

— A few minutes later, Red Morgan broke up a pass that Keelon Russell attempted along the right sideline. Morgan was all over the receiver.

— Next up, the team split up again into different drills. The quarterbacks and skill players faced linebackers and defensive backs in a passing drill.

— Ty Simpson went first at quarterback. He completed a few short passes. He attempted a pass along the sideline, but it was too high. He didn’t really challenge the defensive backs much during his first go through in the drill.

— Austin Mack went next. He might have had the best pass of the drill, hitting Jaylen Mbakwe down field in the middle of the defense, squeezing a pass into the coverage. The next pass Mack overthrew with two defensive backs in tight coverage. But the next pass Mack found Derek Meadows on the right sideline who got some space from the coverage.

— Later in the drill, Mack threw a quality pass to Meadows again. But the next play, linebacker Abduall Sanders Jr. picked off Mack on a pass over the middle.

— Another rep: Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. broke up a pass attempt from Keelon Russell to Lotzeir Brooks in the end zone. But the next play, Russell found Brooks breaking across the middle in the n

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for Follow him on X and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.