The Alabama Crimson Tide’s A-Day Spring game is just around the corner. It will not be available on television for the first time in several years. That does not mean that there are not things to keep an eye out for. The most pressing of which will be a quarterback battle between a long-tenured backup and an incoming phenom.

Even with the changes to the availability, head coach Kalen DeBoer has a full workload ahead of him. The A-Day game is always a good time. Though it will not be on television this year, that does not look to be any different.

While the Crimson Tide are still playing in the annual Spring game, they are the last of a dying breed. Other schools, like the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Texas Longhorns among others, have decided to cancel their Spring games altogether. Whether it be because of injuries or the transfer portal, Alabama’s spring contest still remains.

Its change comes only in it not being on television this year. It has been an annual event where fans from all across the country could tune in and witness the positional battles as the ones take on the twos. Not this year.

“A lot of times here, the A-Day Game, it’s been more of a practice, and there’s been some scrimmaging, not necessarily much of a game. Even when I was at Fresno State, we called it the spring preview. Especially this year, there are some things we’re working through with some injuries and so forth. So it’ll definitely be modified,” DeBoer told the media of the changes to the event.

It will take place on April 12, with free admission. The football scrimmage will be just part of the athletic festivities taking place on campus that day. The Crimson Tide Invitational will take place at Sam Bailey Track & Field Stadium, while the baseball team faces Mississippi State and the softball team takes on Oklahoma.

Spring practices for the football team begin on March 3.

The QB Battle

The most important thing to watch for in the A-Day Game will be the quarterback battle between Ty Simpson and Keelon Russell. Simpson has spent the last three years as a backup for the Tide and is entering his redshirt junior season. Russell is a highly-touted recruit, who was recently named the Texas Football Player of the Year.

There are pros and cons to both sides. While Russell has a higher potential for success, he is still entering just his freshman campaign. For Simpson, the A-Day Game will mark the start of his fourth year with the program, and second under DeBoer.

Simpson has seen the field in actual game action at the collegiate level. It has mostly come in mop-up duty, but he has thrown 50 passes, completing 29 of them for 381 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Simpson’s strength may be the ground game, however, as he has tallied 130 yards and three touchdowns on just 22 rushing attempts.

Russell is touted as more of a pocket passer. He can scramble if the situation calls for it, but the arm talent is already prevalent in the young phenom. Many Power Four coaches have even compared Russell to former LSU Tigers standout Jayden Daniels.

Can The Defense Return to Form?

The A-Day Game may be a huge indicator of how the defense will perform in 2025. It was a struggle for the team to get to the quarterback last season, tallying only 1.92 sacks per game (25 sacks in 13 contests). That is a drastic decline from the team’s 3.0 sacks per game in 2023, a total of 39 for that year.

Getting to the opposing team’s quarterback has been a big part of Alabama’s game for some time now. It remains to be seen if that is still the case under DeBoer and second-year defensive coordinator Kane Womack.

In 2023, Dallas Turner led the SEC with 10 sacks. Two other players joined Turner, each with more than five. In 2024, Jihaad Campbell led the team with five.

2025 is gearing up to be a promising year for the Alabama Crimson Tide. The second A-Day Game under Kalen DeBoer will be very telling of how a lot of it will go. You have to be there if you want to see it take place live.

Main Image: John David Mercer-Imagn Images

The 17-year-old centre half joined the Isthmian League North Division outfit from Ilford last summer and played well in the eight-tier that attracted the interest of the Blues.

Shabazz-Edwards has impressed for John McGreal’s under-21s side in games against Watford and Charlton Athletic at Playford Road last month. He has now been awarded with a professional deal at Portman Road.

He stands at 6ft 4in tall and is a modern day defender, who reads the game well and very composed all the ball. He also shows a willingness to put in a tackle.

The youngster wrote on his Instagram: “Delighted to sign my first professional contract for Ipswich Town.”

Ipswich Town Women travel to Canvey Island on Sunday for a potential title decider in the FAWNL Southern Premier League promotion race against their perennial rivals Hashtag United (KO 2pm).

The Essex side sit top of the table by three points but victory away to the league leaders would see Town replace them with three games still in hand.

Speaking to media at Playford Road, head coach Joe Sheehan revealed he cannot wait for the game.0:00

“They’re a really top team in our division, we’ve got so much respect for the success that they’ve had for quite a few years now. They beat Newcastle in the League Cup final last year, who are now competing really well in the Championship, so we know they’re a strong team.”

Win or lose to Hashtag, Ipswich Town Women have promotion to the Women’s Championship in their own hands. They remain unbeaten in the league this season and will hope to maintain that record following their toughest away game in the Women’s National League. However, for the time being, Sheehan will not let his squad think about the future, concentrating minds on the job in hand.

“We’re in a great position, but we’ve got a really tough eight games to go,” he continued. “We’ve detached ourselves really from the outcome of this season.

“We haven’t really spoken too much about that. We’ve immersed ourselves in preparing and training and attacking every day as best we can. It isn’t something we think about as a group, as staff, as players. We just put everything into every day and every game.

“If we can perform well and win, it’s another one ticked off and then we just repeat the whole cycle.”

The eagerly-awaited clash at the Steve Taxis Stadium will be the fourth meeting between the two sides this season. Town won an early-season league encounter 2-0 at Felixstowe but Hashtag gained revenge by knocking the Suffolk side out of the FAWNL Cup at the same venue.

The two teams were also drawn together in the FA Cup, where Town came from behind, dramatically equalising in the 96th minute to make the scoreline 2-2, before going through after winning the penalty shoot-out.

“Obviously with each game, we learn a little bit more,” says Sheehan. “The more you play them, the more you’re aware of their players and their threats. We’ve certainly learned a lot from the three games that we’ve played. A couple that have gone in our favour, one not so.

“We’ll be well prepared for the game, but likewise, they’ll feel the same about us having played us on a few occasions. It kind of works both ways.

“It promises to be a really exciting, challenging and competitive game that’s going to bring out the best in both teams and we’ll see how it goes.”

Last month, Hashtag United strengthened their squad by signing Eloise King from Ipswich who may play against her former team-mates this weekend, something that Sheehan admitted will be “a strange experience”.

Since the turn of the year, the league leaders have scored 42 goals in seven games, including double figures in three matches, as they attempt to make up a deficit of 21 in goal difference.

Sheehan added: “Maybe they’ve tried to be a bit more attacking, aware of the goal difference that we have between us. But I think they’ve always been capable of scoring a lot of goals to be honest, they’re a really front-foot team that like to get the ball forward quick and commit a lot of bodies forward.

“They’re really good in transition, they’re really good at pressing. They’re good at stopping attacks and they’re really good at suffocating you at times and making you feel trapped.

“When they play with that much intensity and that much pressure, then they often force themselves into the opposition’s goal at times and we’ve seen that on countless occasions in the last few times that we’ve watched them.

“It’s no surprise that they’ve scored a lot, they’ve got some good players in attacking areas that can cause a lot of problems and we’ll have to make sure we’re well prepared to deal with that threat.”

With no game last weekend, the club posted a light-hearted video of Maisy Barker and Ella Rutherford doing impersonations of every member of the squad. I asked Sheehan what he thought of Rutherford’s insinuation that he used the world ‘alright’ in every team-talk.

“We’ve had a bit of discussion over it!” he smiled. “I probably have said that on the odd occasion. Whether she said it as good as I can say it, I’m not sure but yeah, it did make me laugh a little bit.”

Asif Burhan

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As Ipswich Town prepare to face Hashtag United for the fourth time this season, their two wins in the previous three encounters have revolved heavily around Lucy O’Brien, who spoke to Asif Burhan ahead of Sunday’s game at Canvey Island’s Steve Taxis Stadium (KO 2pm).

The midfielder scored the opening goal in their 2-0 league win over the Essex side in September before coming on to drive home the winning penalty in the dramatic shoot-out victory over Hashtag in the Women’s FA Cup.

“With the league fixture, we all knew it was a big match,” O’Brien recalled. “It was only the second game of the season. There was still everything to play for.

“I scored quite early on, there was no shying away from how good that felt. It was a big goal to take the early lead.

“I think in the FA Cup, it was even more special. The last penalty – nerves were going – but I backed myself, backed my team-mates as well and, yeah, I was just lucky enough to put it away.”

O’Brien was a substitute in that match and the impact from the bench was felt again in Town’s last league match at home to Exeter City when another sub Ella Rutherford rifled home a crucial late winner in a 2-1 win.

She feels that this demonstrates that every member of the squad has a part to play for the rest of the season.

“I think it leaves the team in a really good place,” she added. “We all know that no matter where you are in the squad, you’ve got a massive part of play.

“Sometimes coming off the bench is more important than those who start. I’d even say for those who miss out on the squad, they play such an important part during the week and they really help the team supporting from the sidelines as well on the Sunday.

“We’re so lucky that we’ve got such great depth in our squad and we’ve also a brilliant togetherness so matter what role you play, everyone plays their part.”

“Obviously it’s a nice accolade if we’re able to do it but I think our primary focus is, of course, promotion,” O’Brien, who has been at Town since 2020, continued.

“We’d be silly to say it wasn’t. If, with that, we get the invincible season, then that would be brilliant. We just take each game as it comes, try and get the three points and if something happens off the back of that, then that would be great.”

A win on Sunday over the current league leaders would put Town top with three games in hand, a huge advantage considering Hashtag United would only have four games remaining themselves. Having gone so close to promotion in the last few seasons, O’Brien knows it would be too soon to start celebrating.

“We’ve been in this division long enough to know that no matter what happens on Sunday, the league’s not done,” the 21-year-old said.

“We’ve got seven games after that will be of equal importance. Of course, people might be looking at what might happen to the table but for us, in the training ground and the team, we’re very much focused on the next game and then the one after that.”

O’Brien has represented England at youth level playing in the same age group as current internationals Aggie Beever-Jones, Laura Blinkilde-Brown, Grace Clinton and Ruby Mace. On Wednesday, Clinton started for England as they defeated the world champions Spain at Wembley, an inspiring moment for the watching O’Brien

“I think there was four of them from my age group that were within the squad,” she said. “For me, that’s quite special to see. My dad was saying ‘oh, you played with them when you were younger’.

“It’s quite inspiring for me to see those players that I’ve shared experience with at England now going on to play for the seniors. It’s something that I’m striving to do and hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to.”

In the opposition side on Sunday, will be former Town player Eloise King, who recently moved to the Essex side after seven years at the club she grew up supporting.

King scored four times on her first start for Hashtag against Barking and O’Brien knows only too well the threat she now poses to the team.

“She’s a good friend, so I’ve spoken to her,” she added. “We haven’t talked about football but we all know she’s a good player. She’ll be up for it on Sunday but so will we. It should be a really good game.”

Photo: ITFC

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