SEC Spring Football Recap: Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn
04/15/2025
By Chris Marler
Spring football is nearly over, as only a few SEC teams have yet to play their spring game, scrimmage, extravaganza, etc.
LSU wrapped up its spring schedule with Saturday’s fan day—and so did several other SEC programs. Here’s a look behind enemy lines at three spring games across the league.
Tennessee Volunteers
“Tennessee’s 2025 Orange & White Spring Game was a surreal event. We kept waiting for Nico to show up, but he held out on us.
There were No. 8 jerseys with ‘Iamaleava’ crossed out. I also spotted one that read ‘Iam a leavan’ as we were walking the concourse.
The ‘game’ itself was difficult to watch. There was no announcement of activities—it just started with 7-on-7 passing drills for 10 minutes before special teams drills.
When the Vols finally did take the field for a traditional offense vs. defense practice, true freshman George MacIntyre was the first quarterback to see the field. He led a touchdown on his first possession and easily appeared to be the more complete signal-caller of the day.
The other QB, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, didn’t have his best performance.
True freshman receiver Radarious Jackson looked ready to play, as did fellow true freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer—he had three touchdown receptions in the game.
All in all, it was difficult to gleam much from this practice, as much of the action on the field was heavily scripted and did not resemble an actual game.
While off the field, all the focus was on a player that is no longer associated with the program and gone from the roster.”
— Michael Bratton (@SECMike), That SEC Podcast
Tennessee spring game takeaways
Vols need to add a starting QB via the portal to do anything of significance
Running backs looked good
Too many false starts
Kicking game is inconsistent
Prediction: 15-0
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) April 12, 2025
Auburn Tigers
“Of course the format changed from a typical A Day game to more of a glorified spring practice, which made it difficult to really gauge anything.
Biggest takeaways were that Jackson Arnold, Auburn’s presumed starter at quarterback, was not participating due to a hamstring injury.
Sophomore wide receiver Perry Thompson has transformed his body and made some incredible circus catches one-on-one. He looked to be the best WR on the field. That’s big for Perry Thompson, who is probably the fourth or fifth wide receiver right now.
Perry Thompson had a solid A-Day. pic.twitter.com/Z181qQ76L7
— Zac Blackerby (@Zblackerby) April 12, 2025
And then placekicker Alex McPherson saw his first action in a long time after battling a serious stomach illness last year and looked very strong. Made a couple of mid-range field goals and just missed a 50-yarder—but more importantly, he was out there kicking and striking the ball well and put some weight back on.
All in all, kind of a nothing sort of day, to be honest with you, because Auburn held out a lot of its main participants.
Immediately after the game concluded, sophomore safety Terrence Love entered the transfer portal.”
— Darrell Dapprich, LockedOn Auburn
Alabama Crimson Tide
“Alabama achieved what it needed to achieve on A-Day.
All three quarterbacks got valuable reps with either the first or second-team offense, and you even started to see a rough outline of what the depth chart might look like come the fall.
Ty Simpson was easily the most steady of the bunch.
Didn’t do anything that would blow you away, but did a good job of playing within the offense, taking what the defense gave him and delivering a couple of strong throws from the pocket.
Alabama OC Ryan Grubb on the QB battle after wrapping up spring practice: @abc3340
“At the end of the day if we’re playing a football game tomorrow Ty Simpson would start.” pic.twitter.com/RzeSSyqpMh
— Chris McCulley (@ChrisMcCulleyTV) April 14, 2025
Austin Mack was up and down with some questionable decision-making, but he also had some outstanding moments where you can see what the coaching staff loves about him.
I still think freshman phenom Keelon Russell has the highest ceiling of the three though. Really snap, smooth release. The mechanics are fantastic. Still taking some chances he probably shouldn’t at this stage in his career, but have to love how he’s developing. The more comfortable he gets in this offense, the more dangerous he’s going to become as far as threatening for the starting job.
The wide receiver room is in great shape with a lot of depth.
Ryan Williams wasn’t able to participate, but we saw at least 5–6 other guys who stood out, including the other two projected starters (Germie Bernard and Miami transfer Isaiah Horton), returning players (Rico Scott, Jalen Hale, and Cole Adams), and new arrivals (Lotzeir Brooks and Derek Meadows).
Horton, Scott, and Brooks looked the best, but Meadows was a pleasant surprise. Have always loved the size (6-5, 208) and speed combination, but he was more nuanced as a route-runner than I was expecting. He could be a factor situationally this fall.
Jam Miller had a fantastic rep in pass protection where he stuck his nose in there against a blitzing QB Reese, who would’ve easily had a sack had it not been for Miller’s effort.
Wish we could’ve seen Daniel Hill (out with an injury), but he’s emerging as a guy who is going to help this RB room come the fall.
Freshman AK Dear showed fantastic ball tracking skills downfield on a couple of catches in warmups. Looked smooth and confident, especially for a running back — who’s so young too.
I think this group’s depth, on top of the expected development of the offensive line (Wilkin Formby looked great on Saturday), should help this offense be much more consistent and effective come the fall.
Defensively, Reese stood out at linebacker while working with the first-team defense alongside transfer Nikhai Hill-Green.
Probably won’t hold that role once Justin Jefferson and/or Deontae Lawson are able to return from their injuries, but his development is encouraging for the depth at linebacker.
I should note that freshman Darrell Johnson got the most run with the second-team defense over Abduall Sanders and Luke Metz. Undersized right now, but great mover who was further along in his transition to being a full-time second-level defender than I was expecting.
Zay Mincey looked fantastic.
Physically impressive safety who continues to gain confidence at his new position after moving over from outside corner last season.
Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb are the projected starters, but it’s going to be tough to keep Mincey off the field.
Freshman Dijon Lee ran with the first-team defense opposite Zabien Brown and looked the part. His length was on full display on a couple of snaps, but Alabama still had guys capable of going up and winning 50-50 balls over his 6-4 frame (Horton on a double pass from Bernard, for example).
I was surprised to see Florida transfer Kelby Collins working exclusively inside, as we were expecting him to mostly play Bandit, but that could just be due to projected starter James Smith being limited this spring at defensive tackle.
Either way, that move cleared the way for us to see former top-10 recruit Keon Keeley working as the third Bandit behind LT Overton and Jordan Renaud.
Renaud held that role last season while playing behind Overton and Jah-Marien Latham, and that led to him getting a decent workload (averaging 10.8 snaps per game). Keeley looked way better equipped to hold up at Bandit, whether that be setting the edge against the run or when asked to play on the inside shoulder of the tackle. He’s developing nicely.”
— Clint Lamb, Cover Crimson