Alabama football played a spring game without Nick Saban for the first time since 2007 on Saturday and the field was in horrendous condition. It was a tough way to usher in the Kalen DeBoer era.
Crimson Tide fans will hope that it is not a bad omen for how things are going to do.
Because, quite frankly, the field did not meet the standard. There was one singular clean stripe of grass down the middle. Everything else was thinned out and covered in dirt.
The grass between the numbers was in better condition than the rest of the field but even it was spotty.
It looked even worse once the players got on the field.
I do not know why this was the case. I am sure there is a very reasonable explanation.
Perhaps the grounds crew laid out new grass during the offseason that didn’t take. Perhaps it is a result of a certain fertilizer that reacted poorly with the sod. Maybe Harvey Updyke was responsible.
Whatever the reason, Alabama played its first spring game with DeBoer as head coach on a field that looks like the municipal field I practiced on in elementary school. My hometown determined that our was in such bad shape that it put in turf the next year. And the condition of the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday was not much better, if at all.
To make the entire situation even more strange, the grounds crew had two weeks to figure it out.
The Crimson Tide played a scrimmage inside of the stadium on March 29 and the field was not in great shape then. Actually, conditions may have actually been better than they were during the spring game.
They also played on the field five days ago. No improvement was made after the first scrimmage or before the spring game.
While a dusty and dry field does not reflect Alabama’s quality of play, it’s not a great look. Especially considering that Saban just retired and jokes about the program falling apart are ripe for the picking!