Alabama has added a graduate transfer at kicker who should compete for the starting job next fall.
Former Temple kicker Austin Jones posted on his Instagram on Monday that he had committed to play his final year of football for the Crimson Tide. Alabama is looking for a replacement for Andy Pappanastos, who was on the team in 2016-17 and was the starting kicker last season. Pappanastos was a graduate transfer from Ole Miss.
Jones will likely compete with redshirt freshman Joseph Bulovas for the starting kicker job. Bulovas enrolled at Alabama last year, but is a blueshirt, meaning his scholarship counts against the 2018 recruiting class.
Jones was 4-for-5 on field goals last season as he came back from an ACL injury. He was Temple’s full-time kicker in 2014, 2015 and in the first six games of 2016 before his ACL injury. He was 50-for-67 (74.2%) for his career on field goals and made 102 of 104 extra point attempts. He was 9 of 13 on attempts from 40-49 yards with a career long field goal of 47 yards.
He kicked off for the Owls in 2015 and 2016, averaging 60.1 yards per kickoff.
Pappanastos was 18-25 on field goals this season for Alabama and perfect on 56 extra point attempts. JK Scott averaged 63.2 yards on his kickoffs.
Jones was listed at 5-10/205 on Temple’s roster last season. He’s a native of Orlando, Fla. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.
