When it comes to previewing the upcoming season, all of the talk surrounding Alabama football has been about offense and defense. Who's going to start at QB? Can Alabama find more consistency in the traditional run game? Can Kam Dewberry or Geno VanDeMark fill the big shoes of Tyler Booker at LG? What about the defense - can Alabama get more pressure on the QB? Will Deontae Lawson be healthy enough at the start of the season?
All are valid questions, but most expect the Crimson Tide to have one of the best defenses in the country, and if Ty Simpson (or one of the other two QBs) can be merely good, the offense shouldn't be too far behind.
But what consistently gets glossed over is special teams. And Alabama has a lot to replace in that unit, including its starters at kicker, punter, and long snapper from a year ago. The Tide had one of the most consistent special teams units in the country, rating out as 15th in Special Teams SP+, per Bill Connelly's formula.
Gone are kicker Graham Nicholson (8/10 on FGs, 2023 Lou Groza winner), punter James Burnip (45.4 yards per punt), and multi-year starting long snapper Kneeland Hibbett.
"It's one of the positions, one of the areas you always kind of look past," DeBoer said when asked about replacing core special teamers at SEC Media Days. "We replaced all those guys. That will probably be something we really got to work through. Got confidence and belief in the guys in our program that they'll step up."
Alabama's new starters at three key special teams spots
There's competition at punter and long snapper, but kicker is the one spot that, in theory, should be solidified as we inch closer to fall camp. Conor Talty will enter his redshirt sophomore season and was Alabama's primary backup kicker last year. He handled all the kickoffs and is 4-of-4 on extra points in his career. He has yet to attempt a field goal, though.
Talty was the No. 2 kicker in the 2023 recruiting class and was brought in as the heir apparent to perhaps the best kicker in program history: Will Reichard. DeBoer and the staff didn't feel like he was ready last year, so they went to the portal and brought in Nicholson from Miami (OH).
The competition at punter will be between freshman Alex Asparuhov from Fresno, CA, who 247 rated as the No. 2 punter in the 2025 high school class, and transfer Blake Doud, who joined the Crimson Tide from the Colorado School of Mines.
Doud has the edge in experience and could be a placeholder for a year for Asparuhov, but the freshman comes from good stock: his father, Asen, was a kicker for Fresno State in the early 2000s and was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza award in 2002.
Long snapper is perhaps the most underappreciated position on a football team. Casual fans won't even know the long snapper's name, unless they make a mistake. The guys fighting for the job in fall camp will hope to remain anonymous.
Alabama has had a remarkable run of success at the position, with guys like Carson Tinker, Thomas Fletcher, and then Hibbett being as consistent as any snappers in the country.
Cal transfer David Bird is probably the leader in the clubhouse to take Hibbett's spot. He'll face competition from last season's backup, sophomore Jay Williams.
Special teams may fly under the radar, but key plays from that unit can make or break a season that has a razor-thin line between making the College Football Playoff and being a National Championship contender versus being left out and preparing for an also-ran bowl game.