Ryan Grubb, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, told reporters on Monday that the sideline-communication risk was being treated as part of the game plan.

“Adapt and overcome. Whatever it takes. We’ll be ready. We’ve got systems in place,” Grubb said, referring to the backup protocols the coaches have prepared for the game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer said the staff had already lived through a worst-case scenario. During a drive against Kentucky in September, the quarterback-to-coordinator link cut out mid-possession.

“We had to get through that on the offensive side earlier this season, obviously against Kentucky,” DeBoer told reporters on Monday.

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“That’s with Coach (Ryan) Grubb up in the booth. And so Coach Wommack being on the field, it’s a little bit easier to be able to work through.”

No. 2 vs No. 6, both undefeated

The game kicks off Saturday, October 10, at 6:30 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium with ABC carrying the broadcast, and College GameDay will set up on campus for the morning show.

Both teams are 5-0. Georgia stayed at No. 2 in the Week 6 AP Top 25 released Sunday night, while Alabama climbed to No. 6 after a win at Mississippi State. Kirby Smart’s record against the Crimson Tide stands at 1-7 heading into the trip to Tuscaloosa.

Trump breaks the news at a Mobile rally

Trump revealed the plan on Friday night during a midterm rally at the Mitchell Center on the University of South Alabama campus in Mobile.

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“We love Alabamians. In fact, we love it so much I’ll be here again next Saturday to watch a football game between Georgia and Alabama,” Trump told the crowd.

He also talked up the fixture itself.

“They say it’s gonna be a good game. I would think so. One is rated No. 2, and one is rated No. 7, but that doesn’t matter too much at this stage.”

Alabama has moved up one spot since that line was delivered.

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The trip will be the president’s third to Bryant-Denny for a football game, after an LSU visit in 2019 and the 2024 Alabama-Georgia matchup, which the Crimson Tide won 41-34.

Headsets, Secret Service and what happened at Tennessee

The sideline-communication question jumped up the pre-game agenda after the Texas-Tennessee game in Knoxville on September 26. Both staffs had coordinated with the Secret Service before kickoff to clear their radio frequencies, and no in-game headset outages were reported.

Broadcast viewers heard heavy static around Kirk Herbstreit’s voice early in the game, but sports media reporter Andrew Marchand said the fault was in ABC’s truck, not in the stadium’s radio environment: “Audio board in the truck had problems. That was just coincidental with the president being there, that wasn’t the issue.”

The precedent coaches do worry about is more recent. Staffs at the January 2026 CFP national championship game between Indiana and Miami reported brief headset cutouts in the fourth quarter as Trump left the venue, and that is the kind of blackout DeBoer’s and Smart’s teams want to be ready for on Saturday.

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DeBoer said he does not remember any such interruption during Trump’s 2024 visit to Tuscaloosa.

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