During his "Hey Coach" radio show appearance Wednesday night, Alabama footbal l coach Kalen DeBoer continued to point to a Crimson Tide player he views as a "weapon": punter James Burnip .
In Alabama 's 42-10 road win against Wisconsin , Burnip, in his fourth season as the team's starting punter, booted four kicks, three of which landed inside the 20-yard line and two of which went for more than 50 yards. It was enough for Burnip to be named Ray Guy Punter of the Week.
But to DeBoer, Burnip is a player who knew his role from as early as fall camp.
"He's like, 'I'm the guy you really don't want to be on the field,'" DeBoer said.
DeBoer praised Burnip's performance, especially how it helped keep the Wisconsin offense off balance, averaging 4 yards per play against a defense that had four tackles-for-loss and two takeaways.
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Through the first three games, Burnip has 15 punts averaging 46.5 yards per kick. He is one of 32 punters in college football to have recorded at least one punt of 60 yards or more in 2024.
"He's a game changer," DeBoer said Monday. "He can flip the field really on any kick. We saw that again on Saturday. Just proud of the way he goes about it. He's just quiet, but man, when he hits the ball, it makes a noise. I mean that in a lot of ways."
Alabama is in the middle of its first off week, and will take on Georgia at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer praises Alabama football punter James Burnip
