Gump Day: There’s a lot to love about ‘Bama’s backfield, but special teams are nothing but questions

Happy Gump Day and NCAA play-in Wednesday to all who celebrate.

We have more hoops for you the next few days, but first, we have to talk about That Other Sport. Most of the news coming out of ‘Bama camp has been positive, but there is one loss that isn’t being discussed nearly enough.

Kalen DeBoer threw the black fly in your chardonnay — namely, what are we going to do about our absent Aussie?!

Burnip averaged 43.9 yards per punt, which ranks second all time in Alabama history. This past season, Burnip averaged his best net yards of 43.7 per punt. His longest went 64 yards, and his career long went 67 yards in 2023.

“Burnip is going to be really tough to replace,” DeBoer said Tuesday. “I don’t know if there’s another Burnip right now just because he’s different. He’s the best I’ve ever been around when it comes to punters. We were towards the top in the country for a reason. There are schematic things, but there’s also just the guy kicking the football.”

Alex Asparuhov is on deck, but he’s not even practicing this spring because of injury. So, that’s going swimmingly! Let’s hope with a revamped running game, an improved passing attack, a better OC, and perhaps-addition-by-subtraction in the locker room, that Alabama will be lighting it up and won’t have to rely on a punter after multiple sad Dave Rader-looking series.

---

Don’t look now, but there are questions at kicker too. Oh, not in who has the job. It’s Talty’s. Rather, in what he can do; he’s an unknown quantity as a scoring threat:

Talty remained with the Tide through the winter transfer portal and a redshirt sophomore this fall is the presumed replacement for Nicholson at kicker. Coach Kalen DeBoer likes what he has seen from Talty through four practices this spring.

“[He’s been] more consistent than what I remember seeing for sure last spring, but also more consistent from last fall,” DeBoer said Tuesday. “He’s doing a good job getting the ball up quick on field goals, and I think just really in control. I really haven’t seen him have a bad kick. You’re not gonna be 100 percent, but it’s not like there’s just ones where you’re like, ‘Where did that come from?’ He’s doing a really good job there.”

Talty made all three of the extra points he attempted last season in spot duty, but was Alabama’s kickoff specialist in attempting 76 of 81 kickoffs on the season.

“Last fall you could see him continue to gain confidence,” DeBoer said. “I think it was great that he got out there, whether it was just to kick off. That was an important role, and he a really good job, I thought, most of the time. Got better as the season went along.”

Translation: He sucked last year, but hopefully he doesn’t this year. He at least looks better.

Alabama didn’t just lose a punter and a kicker either…it also lost their all-SEC long snapper. “Questions” is not even the word to use to describe the state of special teams.

Wiped. Depleted. Rebuilt. Take your pick of adjectives from mild-to-spicy on this one. But ‘Bama’s special teams — right down to returners — is nothing but questions.

In a way, though, this should be reassuring, a sign that the Universe is healing. Alabama and kicking woes are an iconic duo and this could merely mark a return to normalcy. #Blessed

---

The troubles aside, what might a new-look Tide offense actually look like?

Well, because of injuries, it practically is a new rushing attack for the Tide this season. Here’s what KDB had to say, and it sounds like RB1 is sewed up:

We had just some health issues throughout the season last year. So I’m gonna be honest, there’s some times where I’m seeing things for the first time, too, with a few of them.”

Not Jam Miller, though. He’s back for his senior season after starting for the Crimson Tide in 2024. He ran for 668 yards and seven touchdowns on 145 carries a season ago.

“We know what Jam can do,” DeBoer said. “You all know, as well, and have seen a lot of him. He continues to just work, whether it’s in the weight room here in the offseason and then just a new quarterback and do his thing there. Most of the stuff is the same, but even a few little things that we’re doing differently just to fit him in the offense.

And, one thing we know for certain, those carries that went to Jalen are going to the ‘backs now instead:

DeBoer on how he expects to make up production lost by QB runs…

“You kind of think, ‘Well, the runs Jalen had just translate over to running backs.’ But I think a lot of it was the style of offense, too. To me, those runs go to the running backs, but they also might be a few more pass attempts that you have that the play-action games gets opened up by more handoffs to the tailback. I see a lot of that kind of developing right now with the play-action game because there are more carries that the running backs have. The system is the same. The concepts are the same. It’s just what direction you call more plays when it comes to the style of runs, which are definitely tailback-oriented right now, for sure,

---

As Brent alluded to yesterday, the WR room is stacked. Coach DeBoer emphasized the thing that I’ve been jazzed about for months too: the absolute length on these monstrous freshman wideouts:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The early returns on a pair of freshmen receiver have been positive.

Lotzeir Brooks and Derek Meadows have stood out through four spring practices, according to Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer.

Meadows is a physical presence. The former four-star and No. 10-ranked receiver in the 2025 class checks in at 6-foot-5 and 208 pounds — by far the biggest target on the field.

“You can pick him out anywhere, right?” DeBoer said of the Las Vegas native. “He’s long and has a presence about him.”

During Tuesday morning’s practice, DeBoer said a 1-on-1 rep involving Meadows caught his eye.

“That was really neat to see him use his body,” he said. “You know, sometimes guys that are like that, they got that presence, but they don’t use it. And he used it. “Really got a long wingspan, so just get the ball in the vicinity, and he’ll come down with it.”

Be prepared to hear the phrase “catch radius” be tossed around with reckless abandon. But at 6’4”, and playing to their size, it will afford a lot of wiggle room for where that ball can go. For years, LSU has made a living recruiting tall, physical beasts on the outside. I, for one, am happy to finally see some of that size migrate to Tuscaloosa.

---

Here are the juiciest tidbits from practice, so you can read that and more:

If you prefer audiovisual Gumping, here’s the complete post-practice presser:

---

Mark Sears got a bit of a career valedictory yesterday, when he became just the second first-team All-American in Alabama basketball history.

Alabama basketball’s Mark Sears was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press on Tuesday. Sears became only the second Crimson Tide player to receive the honor, joining Brandon Miller.

The All-America nod was Sears’ second among the four teams used to determine consensus and unanimous designations. He had already made the Sporting News’ first-team list, with the United States. Basketball Writers’ Association and National Association of Basketball Coaches teams yet to be released.

Sears was a second-team AP All-American last season. This year’s first-team also includes Auburn’s Johni Broome and Duke’s Cooper Flagg, who were both unanimous selections, along with Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Purdue’s Braden Smith.

Alabama has played the remaining three of four first-team All-Americans. Auburn has played four of four. Don’t tell me the SEC didn’t earn their keep this year.

If you’re keeping track at home, in Alabama’s fairly decorated century-long program, despite guys like Hollywood and Spree and Horry and dozens others — there have been just two first team All-Americans to hit the parquet.

Nate Oats has recruited and developed both of them. And for Sears, it marks Alabama’s first-ever back-to-back All-American. Build the man a damn arena already!

#BOG

---

Finally, I leave you with this absolutely amazing story of NIL being done right, in a way that encourages players to stay at their school. It was developed of course by a former athlete.

Alabama State fans or anyone else were so inclined — they could watch that play and deposit money in accounts belonging to Simpson and Knox to reward them directly for their March Madness heroics. There’s only one catch: They’d have to stay at Alabama State next season to get the money.

Cale Johnston is a former Division II tight end who never saw a penny of NIL money, but he did make millions creating a banking service called ClickSWITCH that he sold in 2021. Before he played at Concordia University in Minnesota, Johnston was a diehard Iowa fan — and he remains loyal to the Hawkeyes. But after his first experience donating to an NIL collective, Johnston decided his next creation would attempt to cut out the middleman between fans and athletes.

“I was like ‘Here you go,’ and then I never heard from the collective again,” Johnston said. “Except a year later. They were like ‘Hey, can we get more money?’ And I asked ‘Where did the money go?’ And they said ‘We’re not going to tell you.’”

That inspired Johnston to create ROY (Return On You), which drew on his previous experience with financial technology software to create a platform that allows fans to pay into accounts earmarked for individual athletes. The athletes can claim the accounts and money in exchange for creating custom content to be sent to fans who paid them. A fan watching the NCAA Tournament this year can search any player’s name in the ROY app and find that player’s account.

The twist Johnston added is that players with eligibility remaining must stay at their current school to collect. If the player transfers, the fans get their money back.

Just cool all the way around. It won’t move the needle at big schools, of course, or for studs. But for the rank and file guys, like a backup punter at Directional Michigan, this kind of material benefit that includes roosting incentives is a nice nod.

---

I’m not sure what else we have for you today. There’s a ton out there already. So, I’m going to flog our Pick’em Contest once again. If you’ve not signed up for it, do so. You have about 24 hours remaining! Be the envy of your neighbors and a worthy role model to generations of young Gumplings.

Take care, and Roll Tide