Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
If you're looking for the most improved player, perhaps you need only look at the punter. Again.
A year after improving his season average by 5 yards, Alabama's Cody Mandell is better than he was in 2012.
His 47-yard average is good enough for second in the Southeastern Conference and fifth nationally.
"I think every year that Cody's punted, this is his fourth year, he has gotten more and more consistent, more and more confident in his preparation and approach to how he goes about what he does," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "I think that his hard work and that approach has benefitted to his improvement. Every year, he's improved and become better. So far this year, he's done a fantastic job in terms of average, ball placement, hang time. Until the last game, we've been a little bit unlucky on getting it inside the 20. And some of that is the way the ball bounces.
"But he can Aussie kick, which is the end-over-end kick, which sometimes gives you a good hop. I think that's beneficial that he worked hard on doing that. He didn't know how to do that until last year. Cody's done a really good job. It's important to him, and I think that for any player at any level to look at what Cody's been able to do is just due to hard work and perseverance and developing confidence and being positive in his approach to what he's trying to do. He's developed into a really good punter."
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1556007
TideSports.com Senior Writer
If you're looking for the most improved player, perhaps you need only look at the punter. Again.
A year after improving his season average by 5 yards, Alabama's Cody Mandell is better than he was in 2012.
His 47-yard average is good enough for second in the Southeastern Conference and fifth nationally.
"I think every year that Cody's punted, this is his fourth year, he has gotten more and more consistent, more and more confident in his preparation and approach to how he goes about what he does," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "I think that his hard work and that approach has benefitted to his improvement. Every year, he's improved and become better. So far this year, he's done a fantastic job in terms of average, ball placement, hang time. Until the last game, we've been a little bit unlucky on getting it inside the 20. And some of that is the way the ball bounces.
"But he can Aussie kick, which is the end-over-end kick, which sometimes gives you a good hop. I think that's beneficial that he worked hard on doing that. He didn't know how to do that until last year. Cody's done a really good job. It's important to him, and I think that for any player at any level to look at what Cody's been able to do is just due to hard work and perseverance and developing confidence and being positive in his approach to what he's trying to do. He's developed into a really good punter."
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1556007
