Alabama football has to win out the rest of its regular season schedule for a Southeastern Conference Championship opportunity and College Football Playoff chance.
Oklahoma is the Crimson Tide’s next opponent on Saturday in Norman, Okla. The matchup is set for 6:30 p.m. CT via ABC, but a Tide assistant coach has been losing sleep thinking about his return.
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This has not been an easy week for Jay Nunez.
The special teams senior analyst for Alabama and special assistant to head coach Kalen DeBoer was on Oklahoma staff previously as a special teams analyst. Nunez is from Oklahoma so he knows the makeup of the program, the intensity of the atmosphere, and what it takes to win in that environment. He’s had James Burnip put together a season for Alabama that has him as one of the best, if not the best, punters for the upcoming NFL Draft.
Burnip has averaged 45.3 yards per punt under Nunez and has flipped the field beautifully all season. Conor Talty has executed touchbacks on nearly every kickoff this season, and Graham Nicholson has made all 48 extra point attempts as a transfer from the University of Miami at Ohio.
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Nicholson’s made five of seven field goals this year.
Nunez told reporters on Wednesday in media availability for assistant coaches that ‘he has not slept at all’ this week.
“I don’t wanna say it’s emotional, but I grew up in Oklahoma,” Nunez said. “My senior year, I literally played Friday nights, got in the car with my best friend … drove three hours, watched the game and came back. So working there for two years was literally a dream come true.”
Nunez remembers every player he worked with at Oklahoma. He never got the chance to say goodbye to each one. Saturday will be different for him.
“Excited to give some of those guys a hug if they want to,” Nunez said. “If not, I’ll put my head down and cry. But there’s some bittersweetness to it, for sure.”
Colin Hitschler, Alabama’s safeties coach, was the one who helped the Crimson Tide in a victory over Wisconsin because he knew so much about the program and Luke Fickell as a coach.
He will be able to pass on advice to Nunez to help him in this time. The Tide needs Nunez to be at his best executing special teams to propel Alabama to victory on the road.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
