Deion Sanders advocates for spring games against other in-state programs
Deion Sanders is all for switching up the standard spring game and, instead of teams hitting themselves for a few hours to conclude spring practice, facing another team around the state.
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said earlier this week he’d like to see the traditional spring game replaced with an inter-squad scrimmage between Auburn and UAB, or Alabama and Troy. Proceeds from the game could go to a charity, Freeze proposed. Injury risk would get cut in half. He likened the idea to scrimmages held between teams in the NFL every year.
Trent Dilfer, in his first year as the head coach at UAB, offered emphatic support for Freeze’s proposal. Nick Saban said the concept of turning the spring game into a way to help out other programs is a great idea. Auburn can’t actually play UAB in April, but scrimmaging another team that isn’t your own seems to have some merit with coaches around the country.
Sanders was asked about it on Saturday when he met with reporters. He said he wanted to do it three years ago.
“I said it three years ago. That’s the smartest thing ever,” the first-year Colorado coach said. “You can’t play the schools that could possibly be on your schedule, but I think it’s a financial windfall for a lot of universities. You could go home and away. It’s a tremendous opportunity.
“We don’t want to play against ourselves and bang each other up. But we want to put on a good show and give our fans the hope they desire and want. But I would love to do that. I said that at Jackson (State) when we first got there. This don’t make sense. Like, even 7-on-7 in the offseason. Why can’t we go somewhere and play 7-on-7? We need that. The pass-rushers need 1-on-1s as well.
“You’d like to see. You’d like to see what you’ve got, what you’re gonna have against someone else other than yourself. That’s the problem. Sometimes you measure yourself based off of what you have in camp and sometimes that’s not good. It’s a false sense of advertisement. You think this guy’s good because he’s kicking everybody’s butt in your camp. Well, shoot, your camp might not be good. You’re gonna get out there and see if Tarzan is really Tarzan or if he’s Jane. You wanna see.”
Spring games around the country have gotten less and less interesting over the years. Coaches don’t want to reveal too much about their identity for the upcoming season. Teams prioritize getting out of the game healthy above all else.
We’ll see if this new (or, as Sanders put it, three-year-old) idea continues to pick up steam.