Alabama football’s cornerback, Kool-Aid McKinstry proved he is dangerous as a punt returner last season which is why Nick Saban believes teams are punting away from the former five-star.
However, McKinstry has appeared to misjudge some punts this season as he attempted to get a feel for which ones to fair catch and which ones to get away from. This happened in Alabama’s most recent win over Tennessee, and the Tide were pinned deep as a result.
Saban feels McKinstry’s struggles as a returner this season is a result of how teams are punting to Alabama.
“I think that a lot of people are kicking the ball away from him because we had a lot of success on punt return last year,” Saban said. “So he’s had a lot of difficult balls to field. In other words, they’re not just kicking the ball to him most of the time.”
The Birmingham, Alabama product finished last season with 332 punt return yards. McKinstry has earned 58 yards on punt returns this season.
Saban remains confident in McKinstry’s ability to be good at returning punts.
“I got a lot of confidence in him,” Saban said. “I think he has confidence in doing it. I don’t think he has an issue. He wants to be back there, he wants to be aggressive, he wants to do what he has to do to be able to return punts and we’ve got total confidence in him.”
Look out for McKinstry to keep taking care of Alabama’s punt return duties
Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber-only content!*
