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Adam Griffith: Alabama Football’s Hero or Zero?

By Meredith Hornsby

Jan 11, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide place kicker Adam Griffith (99) lines up for an extra point against the Clemson Tigers the 2016 CFP National Championship at U. of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 11, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide place kicker Adam Griffith (99) lines up for an extra point against the Clemson Tigers the 2016 CFP National Championship at U. of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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Alabama football’s go-to kicker, Adam Griffith, has struggled with consistency over the past several seasons. In 2016, will he be the Tide’s hero…or the Zero?

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In the golden era of Alabama football, there are four words that make Alabama fans more nervous than any scheduled opponent ever could.

“Here comes Adam Griffith.”

Scared you, didn’t I?

We’ve all heard Griffith’s background story about how he came to the United States from Poland with his American adoptive parents at the age of 13. We all know that Adam became a star kicker at his high school in Calhoun, Georgia and signed to play football for Coach Saban and the most storied college football program in the country.

Jan 11, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide place kicker Adam Griffith (99) kicks off against the Clemson Tigers during the 2016 CFP National Championship at U. of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 11, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide place kicker Adam Griffith (99) kicks off against the Clemson Tigers during the 2016 CFP National Championship at U. of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

That’s a great feel-good story. But most Bama fans feel anything BUT good when it comes to our first-string kicker.

So….what happened? How can the kid who was ranked the nation’s No. 1 place-kicker by 247sports.com come to Alabama and struggle so much with consistency?

Sure, kickers always have and will be fickle creatures. Some have suggested injuries might’ve gotten him off his game. Others have blamed his lack of consistency on family issues or off the field problems.

Whatever the case may be, all anyone seems to offer is an excuse as to why a player can’t do his job. And at Alabama, we don’t make excuses. We win championships.

Over his career, Adam is 36 for 54 field goal tries –  a not so impressive 66.7%. That’s a decent stat if we’re talking about completion percentage for a quarterback. But field goal kicking? Not so much.

We could talk about that whole “kick 6” debacle, but Verne and Gary talk about it more than enough….so let’s just skip that part and look at the facts.

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Adam started the 2015 season the same way he ended the 2014 season: ice cold. There was a 15 field goal stretch where Griffith missed TEN field goals. It got so bad that Alabama fans began praying to the football gods that we would never be faced with a 4th and long inside Adam’s supposed “range”.

Whether the football deities began smiling on the Tide, or whether Griffith just found his groove, something finally clicked. Griffith went on to make 23 of his next 28 field goals. He even went on to make one of the most important plays in Alabama championship game history – the onside to kick to Marlon Humphrey that changed the momentum of the game and catapulted Alabama to their 16th national title.

After closing out the 2015 season with a respectable 82% field goal percentage, we all had high hopes. This would be the year Alabama fans wouldn’t have to worry about a kicker. We were finally at peace with the football Gods.

Then A-Day rolled around. And Griffith was 1 for 5.

While some of us won’t admit it, we’ve all mumbled under our breath (or if you’re like me, yelled extremely loud) when ANY kicker missed a chip shot 30 yard field goal.

We were definitely yelling at A-day.

Alabama Crimson Tide kicker Adam Griffith during the Walk of Champions at A-Day 2016. Photo Credit: Meredith Hornsby
Alabama Crimson Tide kicker Adam Griffith during the Walk of Champions at A-Day 2016.Photo Credit: Meredith Hornsby /

So here we are, right back at square one. Bobby Williams has moved on to an off the field coaching position, so we can’t blame him anymore. It seems that the blame now falls squarely on the shoulders of one of the smallest players on the roster. Number 99.

Some will comment, “He’s just a kid! Cut him some slack!” I even had one person unfollow me on Twitter after I posted a tweet saying that Adam Griffith was continuing his Tide tradition of completely missing field goals.

I maintain my stance that he knew what he was signing up for when he took the scholarship offer to become the kicker for The University of Alabama.

If Adam can accept the praise, he should certainly be able to handle the criticism. You don’t get to have one without the other. After all, this isn’t some Upward football league where you don’t keep score (WUT?) and everyone gets a participation trophy. This is the real world of Big Boy Football where you are criticized for a poor job performance.

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All of that being said, I want to believe in you, Adam. I want you to succeed. Not only because of the adversity you’ve had to overcome in your lifetime, but because you wear the crimson and the white of the University of Alabama. You’re one of us; you’re family.

Please don’t let us down this season or I guarantee we will make fun of you at a minimum of 12 family reunions each year for decades to come.

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