Alabama Football: Based on spring, punting and kicking woes are over

Alabama football fans are cautiously shedding pessimism about the kicking game. It is even possible punting could be a strength in 2019.

Alabama football fans understand spring games can be fun and misleading. Some players shine against second and third units. Quarterbacks are downed by a touch. Game clock operation follows the dictates of Commissioner Nick Saban.

Two particular game components are unaffected by rules constraints – how far and how straight the football can be kicked. The Crimson Tide had problems with both those components last season.

Alabama football excelled in one punting component last season. It was No. 5 in the FBS in Punt Return Defense. It did not take long to cover most of the Tide’s punts because they did not go very far. Because of the strong, punt coverage stats, the Crimson Tide finished No. 114 (out of 129) in Net Punting. Last season, 84 FBS punters averaged 40 yards or better, all the way up to Braden Mann at Texas A&M who averaged 51 yards per punt. As a team, Alabama football averaged 35.8 yards per punt.

Skyler DeLong and Will Reichard are on a mission to dramatically improve Alabama football punting in 2019. Based on the A-Day game, both young men are off to a good start. Admittedly, punting in a spring game does not carry the pressure of an intense regular season contest.

Don’t think for a second Skyler DeLong wasn’t under pressure in the A-Day game. He had something to prove after averaging only 34.4 yards per punt last season. Many Alabama football fans had written DeLong off as hopeless – somehow a top-rated punting bust.

In the A-Day game, Skyler punted four times for a 47.5 yard average. One of his punts was a 37-yarder, kicked short to pin the opposing returner inside the 20-yard line. The other three punts were 50, 54 and 49 yards.

Nick Saban was quick to comment during the game, saying

"that guy was a freshman last year, alright, and he was very, very nervous. And he’s gotten a lot better."

DeLong’s continued challenge going into the fall is to hold off Will Reichard. Reichard is the freshman placekicking and punting phenom Crimson Tide fans have been praying for. The highly confident Reichard did not quite match DeLong’s A-Day punting stats. Will had six punts and averaged 42.2 yards.

More importantly for Alabama football fans was Reichard’s placekicking accuracy. His only field goal attempt was a made 43-yarder. He also made all of his PATs. In fact, there were no missed PATs in the A-Day game, though the first one from Joseph Bulovas made it through the uprights after a post deflection.

Crimson Tide fans remember too well the nine missed PATs last season.

The old phrase ‘never say never’ comes to mind. Much the same, Crimson Tide fans have long feared to “ever trust” a Tide field goal kicker. Well, this may be the ‘never say never’ year – and we just might have a punter to boot!