Alabama football returned to the practice field Saturday at Berkeley Prep in Tampa, ahead of its Tuesday appearance in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan. Reporters were allowed to observe three periods of Saturday’s practice.

Alabama will conduct one more practice and a Monday walkthrough before Tuesday’s game, which kicks off at 11 a.m. CT that day, and will be aired on ESPN. Before that, here are our observations from Saturday’s practice periods.

Alabama football practice observations

— Reporters were allowed in starting with the third period of practice. Weather at practice time was 77 degrees, and partly cloudy.

— The practice music playlist leaned heavily into classic rock. Selections included Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock” and Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.”

— Kadyn Proctor, who spent the observable portions of Friday’s practice riding a stationary bike, was back in action with the first-team offense. Proctor was fully dressed, and was not wearing a black jersey, which signifies a non-contact participant in practice.

— Four of Alabama’s early enrollees from the 2025 recruiting class were spotted practicing with the defense. Edge-rusher Justin Hill was wearing No. 8, inside linebackers Duke Johnson and Luke Metz were both in No. 1, and defensive back Ivan Taylor was in No. 25. All of those numbers correspond to Michigan defensive players, so they could have been temporary scout-team digits for the Crimson Tide youngsters.

— Reporters did not see any 11-on-11 football during the observable periods. Players went through individual and position group drills.

— The linebackers went through drills against the scout team offense’s tight ends.

— Alabama assistant coach JaMarcus Shephard was plenty vocal with his receivers. The Crimson Tide ran a drill where receivers had to make catches along the sideline, and Shephard wanted them to stay in bounds. If they made the catch and stayed in bounds to run up the field, Shephard praised them and let them know they did a good job. If they made the catch in bounds but didn’t stay in bounds, Shephard let them hear it. Jaylen Mbakwe was one of those players who made a nice grab along the sideline, but he couldn’t turn up the field and run. So Shephard let him hear it. Mbakwe smiled.

— Deontae Lawson, Keon Sabb, Cole Adams and Malachi Moore all spent some time on the stationary bikes. All are done for the season with injuries. Que Robinson was also going through some rehab for his injury that he sustained against LSU.