South Alabama’s Kane Wommack is with Hugh Freeze on playing other schools to replace spring games

Kane Wommack is the latest college coach in the state of Alabama on board with Hugh Freeze’s idea of replacing spring games with exhibitions against other schools.

On Monday, the new Auburn coach pitched the idea to the media. The next day, Troy coach Jon Sumrall was all for the idea.

The idea has been sports radio show fodder for years.

Wommack, coming off a 10-win season with the South Alabama Jaguars, joined 105.5-FM WNSP in Mobile on Wednesday and revealed it is something he hasn’t wanted to do for years.

“Basically, the model in football is you are gonna play another team, organization, whatever prior to your first game of the season.

“I think the end of spring would be a fitting time to do that.”

The NFL has preseason games. High schools compete in jamborees.

Why not college?

“All we’re doing, essentially, is adding another non-conference opportunity,” he explained. “The difference is you get to handle it in a different way. You get to focus on what you want to focus on because there is no consequence to winning or losing that football game.”

Wommack, entering his third year, pointed out coaches can schedule how they see fit. For him, it would be two-fold. The competition would be relative to his personnel and relative to who his team plays in-season.

“You want to play someone relative to your competition,” he said.

“If you want the two best teams to go up against each other, then go for it. If you want a ‘tune-up’ game against an opponent that doesn’t have the talent that you have, that’s a good way of looking at it.”

He admitted there is a financial component to making the idea work.

“It’s an opportunity to showcase your team, your school, your university,” he said. “I think that’s a positive. I think there are enough positives that outweigh the negatives.”

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.