Blake Doud Making the Most of His Time with Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - An underrated position of need on any football team is the punter, with the specialists getting very little spotlight unless something goes awry on special teams. The same can be said for the Crimson Tide, which was replacing its long snapper, kicker, and punter from the 2024 season, with Graham Nicholson, Kneeland Hibbett, and James Burnip exhausting their eligibility after the Tide's 9-4 campaign a season ago.

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Transfer punter Blake Doud won Alabama's punter competition, with little noise from that unit through Alabama's first eight games of the regular season. Doud came from the Colorado School of the Mines, a Division II program that received little spotlight. What is the biggest transition for the redshirt senior punter in his lone season with the Crimson Tide?

"Definitely improving my hang time and stuff like that because the returners in Division-I are a lot more dangerous than Division-II," Doud said during Thursday's media availability. "So helping those guys on the punt team out however I can to make sure those are fair catches and not returnable balls.

“I think just transitioning over a couple months and getting used to the weight room was where I felt the most I had to improve and kind of got up to speed here just after a couple months, I'd say.”

Despite the lack of recognition, Doud continued his work and put on his best performance of the season in Alabama's 29-22 victory over South Carolina, punting five times for 277 yards, a season-high average of 55.4 yards, with a long of 60 against the Gamecocks. Three of his kicks were dropped inside the South Carolina 20-yard line, setting up Alabama's defense in favorable field position.

"It was good," Doud said of his performance against the Gamecocks. "It was nice to put together a consistent game and just kind of want to keep building on it and keep improving.”

On Doud's three punts that ended up inside South Carolina's 20-yard line, one ended in an interception from South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers, and two ended in a Gamecock punt after three-and-outs (one drive lost nine yards, and the second one gained two yards).

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.