Alabama Lands Temple Grad Transfer Kicker Austin Jones

BamaInBham · Jan 29, 2018

crimsonaudio said:
Define consistent.

I support him 100%, but 41-52 (.788) inside the 40 is just okay. By way of comparison, Pappanastos was 14-16 in side the 40 (.875) in his two years at Bama.

Jones is an upgrade outside of 40 yards, however, hitting 9 of 13 from 40-49 yards, while Pappanastos was 5 of 10 at the same range.

Neither of them made a kick over 50 yards.

For his soph-jr years he would have been a top 30 percentage kicker in the nation last year. Carlson and Jones had the same % from 49 yards in 83%. So Jones was better than average after his fr. year. Selecting kickers is quite a crap shoot: top 10 %: UF, Indiana, North Texas, Wisc, Missouri, Utah, UGA, UMass, Tex San Antonio, Neb. Top 10 FG made: Utah, La Tech, Fres St, Toledo, AU, OSUw, UK, Wake, USF, KSU. It's not all chance, but it is mostly. Anyway, Jones looks like an upgrade.

Snuffy Smith · Jan 29, 2018

Al A Bama said:
I watched that part of the game again today. A commentator stated that it looked like his, Pappy's, plant leg, left leg, slipped on that turf.

However, that Blankenship guy did not slip and he kicked a 51 yard FG. I looked at the tape and really feel that the officials didn't spot the ball prior to the kick where it should have been marked, IMHO. When UGA's QB was sacked, UGA's FG kicker should have had to kick a 53 yarder, but that kick would have made it from 53 to 55 yards, I think.

Yeah I thought from the moment it happened that UGA got a “generous” spot but I also agree that the way he hit the kick it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

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TideFan in AU · Jan 29, 2018

Jones won the Kohl's Kicking Senior Challenge a few weeks ago.

https://mobile.twitter.com/KohlsKicking/status/958125330127978496/video/1

tidefanbeezer · Jan 30, 2018

Stats aside, I'm just glad that we have a dedicated Special Teams coach to work with our kickers.

allybama2009 · Jan 30, 2018

Great to see we are getting a reliable kicker, hopefully this makes bulovas work harder and get better for the future. Rtr

Jessica4Bama · Jan 30, 2018

tidefanbeezer said:
Stats aside, I'm just glad that we have a dedicated Special Teams coach to work with our kickers.

Amen and I’m surprised it’s taken as long as it has to do this.

ROTYDE · Jan 30, 2018

Kicking is the most loved and hated position I can think of. Hope he does well, we could use a lift in this area. RTR:biga:

BamaMoon · Jan 30, 2018

RiffTide said:
It really wasn't the fact that he missed it as much as how he missed it. It wasn't anywhere near anything that looked like a goalpost. It was a chip shot with everything riding on the line. The miss was so bad that a coach would wonder if he possessed the mental focus to deliver when it mattered in the future or would he be a basket case. Hence, the quest for a new kicker.

Having said that, we would not have won the game without Pappy's contributions and I wish him the best of luck.

Pap was a senior...he wasn't coming back to kick regardless.

Intl.Aperture said:
The most recent kicker I've ever thought had the mental stones and leg to pull off clutch kicks was Cade Foster, and he didn't even have the world's strongest leg.

That's not how I remember Foster, at all.

BamaMoon · Jan 30, 2018

Concerning AP's missed kick to win it in regulation, the commentators pointed out he slipped with his plant foot, but also acknowledged it was because of poor mechanics.

They showed the difference in his plant foot and Georgia's kicker and it was rather obvious.

Enter our new ST coach and both of these kickers will benefit.

FWIW, it wouldn't surprise me if the highly rated kicker that redshirted last year might not show some vast improvement with better coaching. Kid is supposed to have a strong leg, but was struggling with accuarcy IIRC. This will be interesting to watch develop.

RollTide_HTTR · Jan 30, 2018

It never seems to matter. We are cursed at kicker.

Intl.Aperture · Jan 30, 2018

BamaMoon said:
That's not how I remember Foster, at all.

SELMA! lol

Intl.Aperture · Jan 30, 2018

BamaMoon said:
That's not how I remember Foster, at all.

No, wait, I'm thinking Jeremy Shelley.

Consistent but not physically gifted.

Foster had the leg and little else. My mistake.

TideFan in AU · Jan 30, 2018

Intl.Aperture said:
No, wait, I'm thinking Jeremy Shelley.

Consistent but not physically gifted.

Foster had the leg and little else. My mistake.

I was thinking you may have meant Shelley. He the last Alabama kicker I had decent confidence in making a clutch kick. Foster and Griffith were all over the place. Pappanastos was actually pretty good with short range kicks, but sadly that potential game winning NCG miss will be hard to leave anybody's mind. I'm glad for his sake that we won that game!

crimsonaudio · Jan 30, 2018

TideFan in AU said:
Pappanastos was actually pretty good with short range kicks, but sadly that potential game winning NCG miss will be hard to leave anybody's mind. I'm glad for his sake that we won that game!

I think the only two misses of his career inside of 40 yards happened in the NCG. Crappy way to end your career...

rgw · Jan 30, 2018

We've had problems with our kickers late in the season several times. I realize the stakes are higher the later you're playing but I can't help but think there may be an issue there that has to do with player management.

For example, we may be having our kickers wearing their leg out in practices. Maybe they should be kicking less and reviewing tape more? Perhaps they are correcting too many things at once. Maybe a dedicated coach would help them focus on fixing one flaw in technique at a time? I don't know. I bet Jeff Banks does.

rolltide_21 · Jan 30, 2018

I am hopeful that he will do well. He seems to have the talent. However, based on our recent experience with kickers, I am not optimistic in clutch situations. It seems our kickers are very competent until we need them in a big moment. I cannot remember a time in the Saban era where we won the game on a last second FG. But, I can remember a few misses.

JTBama · Jan 30, 2018

rolltide_21 said:
I am hopeful that he will do well. He seems to have the talent. However, based on our recent experience with kickers, I am not optimistic in clutch situations. It seems our kickers are very competent until we need them in a big moment. I cannot remember a time in the Saban era where we won the game on a last second FG. But, I can remember a few misses.

I think the fact that Saban has gotten a dedicated special teams coach might signal that he wants to change that. Special teams coaches can do great things, and I think we got a very good one.

Go Bama · Jan 30, 2018

I love AP and will remember him fondly. However, regardless of what his FG% was, a lot of the kicks that were good were either ugly or near misses. When I saw him live, his pregame kicks looked great. But on TV he’d kick low or wobbly or just inside the goal posts.

I’m pretty certain everyone here was on pins and needles before that final kick in regulation. It wasn’t like watching an episode of Gun Smoke for me. I can watch Gun Smoke sitting down so I don’t want to be too critical of AP.

russtang · Jan 30, 2018

37bamagreats55 said:
if Pappanastos hits that 35-yard FG to win the National Championship, his legacy would have been completely different. Unfortunately, he missed it. Thank goodness the Tide pulled it out in the OT or I would feel absolutely horrible for him.

As you pointed out, he was about as consistent within 40 yards as a kicker can be.

I was thinking about this the other day. I know other people contributed, but Tua's play probably had a bigger difference in changing Pappy's life than it did his own.
If Alabama loses the game Pappy is forever remembered as a "loser" or "choker" by most fans. He probably would have received physical threats and for sure social media would have been brutal to him. He would have to live it down forever.

Now, in 1 year or 10 years hardly anyone will have a clue who our kicker was. That's a good thing for Pappy and I'm glad for it.

BamaMoon · Jan 30, 2018

russtang said:
I was thinking about this the other day. I know other people contributed, but Tua's play probably had a bigger difference in changing Pappy's life than it did his own.
If Alabama loses the game Pappy is forever remembered as a "loser" or "choker" by most fans. He probably would have received physical threats and for sure social media would have been brutal to him. He would have to live it down forever.

Now, in 1 year or 10 years hardly anyone will have a clue who our kicker was. That's a good thing for Pappy and I'm glad for it.

I too have thought about it from that angle. But the kicks he did make during the game put us into a position to win. If he would have missed any of the ones he made, we might not but celebrating #17.

Just glad he didn't have to live with the lifelong memory of missing a kick that cost us a NC.

Alabama Lands Temple Grad Transfer Kicker Austin Jones

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