Fall camp has been full of positives for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama football as they prepare for the 2025 season. This past Saturday's first scrimmage of fall camp was no different. Former Alabama QB Greg McElroy observed the scrimmage and walked away incredibly impressed with what he saw. His praise of Ty Simpson and the QB room should have all Crimson Tide fans optimistic about the ceiling of this team.
But McElroy had some concerns as well, and one of them he discussed on his radio show "Mac and Cube" on Monday morning, is all too familiar for Alabama fans, and one they hoped had been left in the past for good.
“I’m a little concerned about special teams, if I’m going to be completely honest,” McElroy said. “A couple takeaways of concern. I’m curious to see how the pecking order is ultimately going to end up at tight end. I am also a little concerned about punter and kicker."
I don't share McElroy's concern about the tight end room. There's depth and talent all around that room with veterans like Josh Cuevas, Danny Lewis Jr., and Troy transfer Brody Dalton, to go along with young guys oozing with potential like true freshmen Marshall Pritchett and Kaleb Edwards.
But special teams should be concerning for all Tide fans. Alabama is replacing its starter at kicker, punter, and long-snapper from a season ago. Field goal kicking, in particular, has haunted Alabama for many years, and could be ready to do it again in 2025.
Alabama's FG kicking ghosts could be returning after a nice reprieve
It has been six seasons since Alabama has last really worried about field goal kicking, which was at one time the only real weakness of the Nick Saban dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
There were countless examples through the years, and several games lost that never should have been if it weren't for poor execution in the kicking game. Alabama's 2011 regular-season loss to LSU was tied directly to the fact that the Crimson Tide went 2-of-6 on field goals in a game that was 6-6 at the end of regulation.
Alabama was the better team, but it didn't matter because they couldn't make a kick when it mattered. At least it got a second opportunity to show it against LSU in the National Championship Game, where Alabama blew the doors off the Tigers 21-0.
There's the infamous kick-six game against Auburn. People remember Adam Griffith coming up short on the 57-yard attempt that was ultimately returned for a touchdown, but many forget, prior to that, Cade Foster had missed field goals from 44, 33, and 44 yards again. If any one of those kicks sails through the uprights, the kick-six never even happens, and Alabama is probably playing Florida State to try and win a third straight National Title.
In the National Championship Game of the 2017 season, it's largely forgotten nationally that Tide kicker Andy Pappanastos shanked a 36-yard field goal at the end of regulation that sent the game against Georgia to overtime. They forgot because Tua Tagovailoa made arguably the most famous pass in college football history, but that kick could have easily cost Saban another title.
In the 2019 Iron Bowl, Joseph Bulovas missed a 30-yard field goal that would have tied the game late in regulation.
Those are just a few examples of a consistent problem during the Saban era, one that was so severe that The Ringer wrote an entire article about it in 2018.
Then came Will Reichard, who was Alabama's starting kicker for four seasons from 2020-2023. A godsend to Saban and Tide fans alike. During his career, he connected on 84% of his field goal attempts, single-handedly ending the Tide's kicking curse.
Last year, Miami (OH) transfer Graham Nicholson hit 80% of his field-goal attempts in Kalen DeBoer's debut season.
But now, field-goal kicking could be a concern again for the first time since 2019. Alabama has a talented kicker in Conor Talty, who was the No. 2 high school kicker in the country in the 2023 recruiting class, but he has yet to attempt a field goal in college.
Talent at kicker was never the issue for Alabama - every guy who came through Tuscaloosa during the height of the struggles was an elite prospect once upon a time. They just didn't pan out when the lights were on.
It's fair to question whether Talty will. Despite his lofty recruiting ranking, he was not considered ready by the coaching staff a year ago. They grabbed Nicholson in the spring Transfer Portal window as a result.
For better or worse, Talty is the guy this season. He doesn't have to be perfect, but he needs to be good enough to keep an old, familiar Achilles' Heel from potentially derailing a championship team.