More than half of the Southeastern Conference will wrap up spring football Saturday, with seven programs conducting showcase games and Kentucky a closing scrimmage.
The outbreak of the coronavirus last year wiped out spring contests across the SEC, and the pandemic is continuing to have an effect as they have returned. Crowd limitations are being implemented, with Alabama's 50% capacity for Saturday's A-Day game inside Bryant-Denny Stadium the highest such figure in the league.
Sophomore quarterback Bryce Young, the favorite to continue the Crimson Tide's signal-calling lineage that has contained Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones in recent seasons, is sure to be a focus of the ESPN-televised contest at 1 p.m. Eastern, but Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn't want anyone to make too much out of what transpires during the two-hour spectacle.
"Bryce is the quarterback for right now, so he's going to operate with the first team," Saban said Thursday night on a Zoom call, "but what you see in this game really doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of trying to figure out the depth chart. There are going to be a lot of guys missing, so how we play guys in this game doesn't mean anything relative to next year."
Top returning receiver John Metchie has been out for Alabama all spring, as have right guard Emil Ekiyor, defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis and defensive back Malachi Moore.
Saban's checklist for a successful A-Day involves players competing hard and "executing the basic things," and obviously it being an injury-free game as well. He hopes roughly 50,000 fans will attend the event, which will be followed by a recognition of last season's national championship team that capped a 13-0 season with a 52-24 drubbing of Ohio State.
Georgia, which is expected to be Alabama's chief challenger for the conference crown this fall, has gone through spring practices with a staggering 16 of its 20 signees. Having nearly the entire roster already in Athens with the exception of four signees and West Virginia defensive back transfer Tykee Smith is certainly a plus, but the Bulldogs have been ravaged at receiver by injuries.
In fact, the Bulldogs could conduct G-Day on Saturday without the services of Dominick Blaylock, Jermaine Burton, George Pickens, Justin Robinson, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Arian Smith.
"I wish I had all of them, because I think that competition would be good to see who the top guys and the starters are," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said last weekend, "but a lot of the young guys are catching up to the old guys really fast with the work that they've been doing."
One of those younger receivers who could benefit at G-Day is Ladd McConkey, the redshirt freshman out of North Murray High School.
Besides the receivers, other notable G-Days absences will include running back Kenny McIntosh and inside linebacker Nakobe Dean.
Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt are conducting spring games Saturday in addition to A-Day, G-Day and Kentucky's scrimmage. Texas A&M was originally going to stage its spring contest this weekend as well, but the Aggies moved it back to next Saturday, when Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee will also hold theirs.
Auburn and Vanderbilt are finishing their NCAA-allotted 15 spring practices under new head coaches Bryan Harsin and Clark Lea.
"I know this Saturday won't be full capacity or be on the same level as the fall," Harsin said this week, "but it's still going to be electric having a large number of fans enjoying Auburn football. For our players and coaches, performing on this stage with fans is a huge opportunity to put the hard work of winter training and five weeks of spring practices on full display in a game-like environment."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.