Nick Saban Has Total Confidence in McKinstry Returning Punts

The star cornerback has appeared skittish in the last few weeks while fielding punts, but the Crimson Tide head coach supported him continuing in that role.

Alabama's standout cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry has been a mainstay on the defensive end shutting down opposing receivers and making life challenging for opposing quarterbacks.

One of McKinstry's excellent attributes is his athleticism. That can be seen in pass coverage but it was also on full display in 2022 when the Pinson Valley product showed out as one of the nation's best punt returners. As a sophomore he returned 21 punts for 332 yards and was recognized as the second-team All-American for punt returning by the Football Writers Association of America.

McKinstry has once again assumed the role of Alabama's punt returner in 2023 but the results haven't been nearly as impactful as last season. The cornerback has muffed a few punts and has been less than effective flipping the field, returning 11 punts for 58 yards.

What's more concerning is the number of punts he's opted not to field as his choice has allowed punts to hit and roll for extra field position for the opposition. Despite struggles in 2023 Alabama head coach Nick Saban says McKinstry still has his full confidence. 

"Yeah, well, first of all Kool-Aid's done a great job for us back there. I think that a lot of people are kicking the ball away from him because we had a lot of success on punt returns last year. 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," Saban said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. "I do think that, that everybody got all concerned about this, there were two balls in the game, one he could have caught, probably would have been a tough catch, and the last one that went to the one-yard line, which was, you know, significant. He really misjudged the ball,"

"These guys that are rugby punters the ball doesn't travel like, you know, a normal punt. So this ball flew on him a little bit. You could see on the film when you watch it that the ball was going to go over his head and he was going to have to catch it outside his body and make a tough catch. Rather than take a chance on doing that he let the ball go and unfortunately for us it rolled to the one-yard line. I've got a lot of confidence in him. I think he's got 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 return punts and we've got total confidence in him."

McKinstry's shown that he can effectively return punts at the college level, and even has a punt return of 33 yards this year against Middle Tennessee State. Every punt doesn't have to end up in a big return for the Crimson Tide, but catching the ball is step number one. 

It appears as if, according to Saban, that McKinstry will stay put in his role for the stretch run of the season.

27 Things I Noticed In Alabama's 34-20 Victory Over the Tennessee Vols