Alabama’s No. 1 quarterback Blake Sims (6) drops back to pass during the A-Day spring game Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The offenses didn’t show much of their play packages in a 17-13 win for the White squad over Sims and the Crimson.
Wide receiver ArDarius Stewart (13) is pushed out of bounds by defensive back Nick Perry (27) after a a reception for a first down during Alabama’s A-Day NCAA college football spring game Saturday, April 19, 2014, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – It was not a dynamic debut for Alabama’s offense under new coordinator Lane Kiffin, but there were some late sparks as the White defeated the Crimson 17-13 Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The two teams played a scoreless first half, and the first score was registered by defensive lineman D.J. Pettway, who intercepted a Blake Sims screen pass and rambled 29 yards for a touchdown less than five minutes into the third quarter. It was still just a 10-7 game with three minutes remaining, but Cooper Bateman threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to ArDarius Stewart to put the White up 17-7, and Sims responded with a 55-yard scoring strike to Chris Black with 21 seconds left.
“Everybody needs to understand that in games like today, we really limit what we do on offense and we really limit what we do on defense,” coach Nick Saban said. “We really don’t try and feature players. That may be a little bit of a disadvantage sometimes to our players. Blake Sims can do some things as a quarterback that we really didn’t feature in this game.
“We really don’t feature our skill guys very much, but [receiver] Amari Cooper had a great spring, as did Christion Jones. We had three running backs that had very good springs.”
Saturday’s announced A-Day audience of 73,506 was the smallest of the eight spring games under Saban, but it’s the largest in the nation so far this year, edging out the crowds at Penn State, Auburn and Tennessee.