A few years ago, Charlie Ragle visited an Alabama spring practice. He liked what he saw. For the previous Cal assistant and current Idaho State head coach, it wasn’t just the talent level on display — the Crimson Tide were, well, the Crimson Tide — but also the practice format.

He liked the format so much that he’s set up his first Idaho State spring scrimmage, set for 1 p.m. Saturday on the practice field outside Holt Arena, much the same way. It’s open to the public, but fans will need to bring their own seating to set up around the field. Bleachers will not be available.

The spring game/scrimmage — nobody in the program can agree on what to call it, not even the head honcho — will be split up into blocs. Here’s how it will work.

1. Ten-minute special teams drill

2. Ten-minute individual warm-up period

3. Eight plays of seven-on-seven action

4. Scrimmage

5. Redzone lockout

The scrimmage will be starters vs. starters, backups vs. backups. They’ll follow a “six plays or continue the drive” format, which is easier to understand through examples. Here’s one: On one team’s first drive, third down comes up and the Bengals convert. Play No. 4 becomes first down. If play No. 6 becomes third down and the team doesn’t convert, the drive ends and the other team takes over.

So the starters and backups will take turns scrimmaging in that format. Then they’ll take a break. After that, they’ll repeat the same scrimmage.

That’s when they’ll move on to the final event of the day, redzone lockout. Quick explainer: One team will start on the opponent’s 32-yard line. “At that point,” Ragle said, “what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna play real football.” So the Bengals will turn this situational drill — more on the format in a second — into a regular game.

Let’s say one team runs into a fourth-down scenario, a fourth-and-5 from the 20, where they would normally look to kick a field goal. “Problem is, right now, we don’t have any field goal kickers,” Ragle laughed.

The Bengals have signed a dang good one, Highland senior Ian Hershey, but he’s still a Ram until he graduates this spring. So for these purposes, ISU will turn fourth-down situations into an automatic fourth-and-3. In that case, if the offense converts, the defense scores four points, the offense three. “Because the defense held them to a field goal on a short field,” Ragle said. But if the defense makes a stop, ISU will imagine the offense missed a field goal, resulting in four points for the defense and none for the offense.

From there, the offense and defense will play out a regular game — well, mostly. The offense gets six points for touchdowns, three for fourth-down red zone conversions. The defense gets six points for every forced turnover, four for making stops in the red zone.

First to 15 wins.

If the format seems a little wacky, that’s because it is. ISU coaches have gone this direction because of low numbers. They can’t exactly afford injuries, so this was their way to protect themselves while still rolling out something similar to a spring game.

In any case, the scrimmage, which projects to end around 2:30 p.m., will wrap up Idaho State’s first spring practice under Ragle. Four weeks have come and gone. It prompts a question: What has Ragle taken away from them?

“We have some talented pieces to this puzzle, but we’re lacking some key pieces to the puzzle,” Ragle said. “I think we have two really good quarterbacks, in Hunter Hays and Tyler Vander Waal. I think both of those guys are very capable quarterbacks, and both of them can be good Big Sky players — potentially all-conference quarterbacks.”

Right now, though, Ragle is also concerned about what his team doesn’t have. ISU has seven open scholarships. To fill those, Ragle and the Bengals are looking for two defensive linemen, two offensive linemen, one defensive back, a wide receiver — then beyond that, one player at any position, the best the Bengals can land.

That will happen later this spring. For now, the Bengals will scrimmage this weekend, rain or shine, snow or sleet. “We’re gonna play it no matter what,” Ragle said.