ESPN Will Broadcast Alabama football Spring Game

ESPN recently announced its broadcast schedule for the spring football season for College Football teams. Spring football is a chance for teams to experiment with rosters and analyze its strengths and weaknessess. A bevy of teams will have it's respective spring game televised such as Clemson, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and many more on ESPN's subscription based telecasts. However, the Alabama Crimson Tide's spring game will be broadcasted on ESPN, the main channel that is.

The Crimson Tide's spring game will be nationally televised at 4pm eastern time on Saturday, April 13 on ESPN. The intrigue and buzz around Alabama Football is because the 2024 season will be the first campaign without former head coach Nick Saban at the helm since 2006. Saban, who won six national titles in Tuscaloosa, retired after the 2023 season. Saban led the Crimson Tide to three national titles in the College Football Playoff era, the most since the playoff format was implemented in 2014.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer took the reigns for Alabama Football shortly after having led the Washington Huskies to the 2024 national championship game. Even though Washington failed to win the national championship, DeBoer has proven to be a one of the top coaches in the country.

DeBoer will be walking into a program that has high expectations. Alabama football has a "championship or bust" mentality, as the program arguably had the two greatest coaches in college football history in Saban and six-time championship winning coach Bear Bryant. Bryant served as the head coach of the Crimson Tide from 1958-1982 and won 13 conference championships. Saban arrived in 2007 and led Alabama football to nine SEC titles, ten SEC west titles, and produced four heisman trophy winners (Mark Ingram, 2009. Derrick Henry, 2015. DeVonta Smith, 2020. Bryce Young, 2021).

The former Washington head coach began his head coaching career at Fresno State in 2020. DeBoer spent two seasons with the Bulldogs before heading up to Seattle to coach the Huskies. DeBoer won back-to-back AP Pac-12 Coach of the Year awards ('22-'23) and posted a 16-2 overall record at Washington. The Huskies are a respectable program, but its no where near the caliber or stature of Alabama Football.

DeBoer will have the responsibility to fill the shoes of one of the greatest coaches of all time in 2024, not to mention the development of Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe. Milroe had a rocky start in his first year as a full-time starter in 2023 which included him being benched early in the season. The dual-threat quarterback eventually improved and led the Crimson Tide to an SEC championship victory and a berth in the College Football Playoff. How will Milroe look this upcoming season under a new coaching staff?

The 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide team will be under a microsope all season long due to the arrival of DeBoer and how the Crimson Tide will look post-Saban. The microscope will first be pointed at Alabama football's spring game come April.