The Extra Point: Caleb Downs' 85-yard Touchdown Provides Much Needed Spark
Transcript
00:00 For Bama Central, this is the extra point.
00:02 I'm Matthew Gibson, that's Will Miller.
00:04 Will, Alabama got a jolt in the special teams department
00:06 with an 85 yard punt return by Caleb Downs.
00:09 Will, what do you think this means for the special teams?
00:12 - Well, I think that one of the fan gripes
00:14 of this recent run may have finally taken a turn
00:17 from a personnel standpoint with all the commentary
00:21 and talk around Kool-Aid McKinstry
00:23 and his various, sometimes mishaps, fielding punts,
00:28 not just in the last couple of weeks,
00:30 but throughout the season have prompted many
00:32 to call for a change.
00:33 Nick Saban's been asked about it initially,
00:36 somewhat noncommittal, but then you saw Caleb Downs
00:39 get his opportunity and take one to the house.
00:42 And you've got to think that that's a pretty definitive
00:44 stamp on one aspect of the game
00:47 that maybe could be an improvement.
00:49 Kool-Aid McKinstry, a heck of a football player,
00:51 but maybe his calling is not
00:54 in the punt returning department.
00:56 - Yeah, I agree.
00:57 That's something, when you watch Kool-Aid,
00:59 he almost looks scared back there
01:00 and I don't necessarily blame him.
01:01 He is a first round talent quarterback.
01:04 Putting him back there for punt returns,
01:06 maybe not the best idea for Alabama.
01:08 Obviously last year he was fantastic.
01:10 He had a number of return touchdowns there
01:13 and just did a great job.
01:14 But this year, a couple of mistakes,
01:16 he's been fielding punts kind of incorrectly,
01:18 whether it be not waiting for the fair catch
01:20 at the right moment or letting a ball dribble past him
01:22 and go inside the 10.
01:24 He had that second quarter fumble versus Chattanooga,
01:27 Alabama obviously recovered it,
01:28 but that was the pulling the plug moment
01:30 for Alabama and Nick Saban there.
01:32 Obviously you stick in Downs
01:33 and Downs is a great safety in his own right.
01:35 This is a guy who's probably gonna be a freshman
01:37 at All-Americans, got a pair of interceptions this year,
01:39 two or three pass deflections.
01:41 But Downs gets in there, makes a big play,
01:43 and even Saban commented on Downs
01:45 not having the best control of the ball.
01:47 He was kind of waving it out there.
01:48 But for him, I think Alabama,
01:51 I think it just signifies a little bit
01:53 of a changing of the guard there
01:54 and the fact that Kool-Aid's probably not gonna be back
01:56 there for the rest of the season.
01:58 I think that's a site that Alabama fans
01:59 have been pulling for for quite a long time.
02:02 - I think that part of it became a confidence thing
02:05 for Kool-Aid and that'll happen.
02:08 I mean, when you make these, these are miscues.
02:11 When you muff a punt, when you don't call for a fair catch,
02:14 when you let a ball drop that maybe you shouldn't,
02:16 these are, there's a degree to which you chalk it up
02:18 to mental errors.
02:19 And as those continue to pile up,
02:20 they start to stick in the back of your mind.
02:22 I think that some of that happened as the season went on.
02:25 Again, these are both, both guys are
02:27 all world football players, but I think that the time,
02:31 well, now that it's happened,
02:32 the time is now to make this change.
02:34 I think that it's gonna be to the benefit
02:37 of the special teams unit, which has been pretty strong
02:39 with Will Reichert and James Burnham,
02:42 lending their respective boots to that category
02:45 has already been a strong point this season.
02:47 And now to shore up the returns, this team,
02:49 as I've said on other episodes,
02:51 has been getting better and better.
02:53 And I think this is another step in the right direction.
02:56 - For "Bama Central," this has been "The Extra Point."
02:59 (upbeat music)