Alabama has struggled to recruit elite kickers, but that hasn’t been a problem
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Nick Saban’s Alabama teams don’t have many weaknesses, but there has been one position that has been inconsistent the past couple of seasons — kicker.
Though exactly zero of Alabama’s 2016 games were decided by three points or less (even the title-game loss ended in a four-point margin), the Crimson Tide faced inconsistency from K Adam Griffith, who only converted 21 of 28 field goals.
Griffith also didn’t have much power behind his kicks, making only three of his seven kicks between 40 and 49 yards and attempting zero kicks of 50 or more yards.
Heading into 2017, though, Griffith is gone, meaning rising senior Andy Pappanastos is the only kicker currently on the roster.
Brandon Ruiz, the No. 2 overall kicker in the 2017 recruiting class according to 247Sports, recently de-committed from Alabama, picking Arizona State instead. That leaves the Crimson Tide with 3-star K Joseph Bulovas as the only incoming recruit at the position.
But, while Alabama didn’t land an elite kicking prospect, that might turn out OK for Saban’s crew. According to AL.com, Griffith was a top recruit who didn’t live up to expectations (though he still had a solid Alabama career):
Barton Simmons, the director of football scouting for 247Sports, recalled that Griffith “was as safe as a pick as there was in his class.”
“But you don’t know how a guy is going to develop in college,” said Jake Elliott, a placekicker at Memphis who was a participant in the Senior Bowl this past week. “That’s why you see a lot of these specialists coming out of smaller schools, per se, rather than the Alabamas. It’s tough to tell how a kid is going to develop, how he is going to deal with pressure. It’s definitely hard to assess.”
Fortunately for the Alabama faithful, though, having an inconsistent kicker hasn’t stopped the team from reaching the apex of college football. However, if Pappanastos or Bulovas can develop into an NFL-level kicker, it will add another important weapon to Saban’s arsenal.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
