TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabamaās offense and defense have led the discussion so far during the Crimson Tideās spring practice, whether itās been position battles, experiments or injuries.
But very little has been mentioned about special teams.
Well, that changed Tuesday when head coach Nick Saban was asked about the kicking game and whether or not heās thought about once again employing a 2-kicker system this fall.
āYeah, I think about it. A lot, actually,ā Saban said after Tuesdayās spring practice. āBut weāve only had kicking one day so far in the four days that weāve practiced. It was very windy when we did it, but I was encouraged by the improvement that we made.ā
The biggest question for UAās special teams will be which players replace JK Scott and Andy Pappanastos at punter and placekicker, respectively. A scholarship punter is already on campus in early enrollee Skyler DeLong, who will likely take over the position.
Saban also mentioned having new holders with Scottās departure, but sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has experience holding and it will be up to Saban and new special teams coach Jeff Banks to decide whether the potential starter does that in 2018.
Placekicker Joseph Bulovas is also back after redshirting a season ago. As the lone scholarship kicker on campus this spring, Bulovas has an opportunity to showcase why he deserves the job as Alabamaās starter after he didnāt see the field at all as a freshman.
āWe certainly have a lot of confidence in Joseph, and we think that he has a lot of talent,ā Saban said. āWeāre just working on the consistency level to get him to where he wants to be and where weād like for him to be.ā
Bulovas arrived at Alabama as the nationās No. 6 kicker in 2017, per the 247Sports Composite. But Pappanastos beat out the first-year kicker to handle the Tideās short field goals. Scott, who was a placekicker in high school, jogged onto the field for long attempts.
The Mandeville, La., native will have the competition to himself this spring, but former Temple kicker Austin Jones will arrive on campus as a walk-on once the semester ends to try to win the starting kicker job this offseason. Jones was 50-of-67 on field goal attempts at Temple with a long of 47 yards. In 2016, he set a school record of 19 straight made field goals.
Could Alabama elect to implement a 2-kicker system once again? Itās possible. But the second kicker hasnāt even enrolled yet, leaving the offseason question as exactly that for now.
āWe will evaluate all the kickers that we have in the program, and we do have some coming into the program, as well,ā Saban said. āAnd weāre going to do like we do at every other position and play the player who we think gives us the best chance to be successful at that position, and itāll be no different when it comes to kicking.
āWhether itās kicking field goals or kicking off or if we have to short field goal/long field goal or whatever.ā
Alabama will return to practice Thursday, March 29, before a 4-day break for Easter.
