By: Michael Spiers

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Spring football games used to be a big deal.

They were a chance for fans to fill the stadium one last time before summer, for coaches to evaluate their rosters in a live setting, and for recruits to catch a glimpse of what their future might look like.

Schools turned them into full-blown events with some drawing huge crowds. When Kirby Smart became the head coach in Athens, more 93,000 Bulldog fans attended his first G-Day Spring Game. But now? More and more programs are pulling the plug, and it’s not hard to see why.

The truth is, spring games just aren’t what they used to be. What started as a way to simulate game day and test rosters in real time has become something else entirely.

With transfer rules looser than ever and NIL money changing the game, coaches are starting to see spring games less as a team benefit and more as a risk to the roster.

Nebraska’s Matt Rhule put it bluntly: “I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.’” The fear now is showing too much and having your players poached before fall camp even starts.

And it’s not just paranoia. It’s actually happening. Take Texas for example. Quarterback Malik Murphy turned heads during their 2023 spring game. Suddenly, SEC schools came calling. Texas threw NIL money at him to stay, but he still left for Duke after the season. And that’s just one case.

Coaches across the country are starting to adjust. Some are turning spring games into nothing more than glorified practices. Others, like Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, have taken a different route altogether. Last year, he swapped scrimmages for hot dog eating contests and tug-of-war games. It was fun, and definitely weird, but it kept eyes off his playbook and roster depth. Turns out, Kiffin may have been ahead of the curve.

Even programs that used to thrive on spring hype are backing off. Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and USC are all scaling back or rethinking how they end spring practice.

The common thread? Everyone’s trying to protect their roster. Coaches like SMU’s Rhett Lashlee and Illinois’ Bret Bielema have admitted it: there’s more to lose than gain by putting players on display.

It’s not just Power Four teams, either. Group of Five schools, which already struggle to compete financially, are especially vulnerable. As Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall put it, the goal now is “to protect and retain our current roster” while keeping schemes under wraps.

Sure, some programs are still holding spring games, trying to strike a balance between development and caution.

Utah’s Kyle Whittingham says they still see value in it, and he thinks that getting players real reps matters more than the risk. But those programs are becoming the exception.

There was even a push this year from Colorado’s Deion Sanders to try something new: a scrimmage against another team, like the NFL does in preseason. Syracuse was on board. The NCAA? Not so much. The idea got shut down fast.

The TV networks haven’t totally given up pushing for spring games because from their perspective there’s still some value in broadcasting a marquee program during a quiet part of the calendar. But more and more, the action is shifting off-camera.

In a constantly changing college football landscape that makes it easier than ever for players to change teams and chase the money, spring games are looking more like a thing of the past.

What once helped build excitement, evaluate depth, and keep fans engaged is now seen as an unnecessary risk in a cutthroat environment. The transfer portal isn’t going away. NIL offers are only growing. And with the pressure to keep rosters intact, most coaches are leaning toward secrecy.

Or, as Florida coach Billy Napier said: “Pick your poison. Either deal with coaches tampering, or deal with fans mad there’s no spring game.” These days, more coaches are choosing to keep the curtains closed.