Reports: Alabama to start walk-on punter against Tennessee
By Keith Farner
Published:
Because of the struggles by P Skyler DeLong, Alabama is expected to start a walk-on punter this week at Tennessee, multiple reports indicated Thursday night.
According to Scott Theisen of 97.7 The Zone and Touchdown Alabama Magazine, walk-on Mike Bernier will start in place of DeLong. Bernier will suit up in honor of his mother, who recently died after a battle with breast cancer.
Coach Nick Saban said on his radio show that most of DeLong’s struggles are psychological, but did not indicate a change at the position.
Bernier is a native of Madison, Ala., played at Bob Jones High School, and transferred from Eastern Illinois.
DeLong is averaging 42.1 yards per punt this season, but only had one punt last week against Missouri that traveled 12 yards. He hadn’t punted the previous two games, and had six for a 36-yard average against Texas A&M.
Sources say @AlabamaFTBL will change in punters Saturday as former @BJFootball Mike Bernier will take over for Skyler Delong. Bernier left his scholarship At Eastern Illinois to come home and take care of his mom who passed away from cancer 9 weeks ago.
— Scott Theisen (@stheisenespn) October 18, 2018
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
