Special teams have been one of Alabama’s biggest strengths this season. Kicker Will Reichard has made all 15 of his field-goal attempts and each of his 25 extra-point tries, while punter James Burnip ranks seventh nationally, averaging 48.19 yards on 36 punts.

However, there’s been one aspect of the special teams unit that has lost a bit of its luster from last year.

After ranking second nationally averaging 15.86 yards per punt return, Kool-Aid McKinstry has managed just 5.27 yards per attempt this season. What’s worse is the five-star talent has misjudged a few balls, allowing them to hit the turf and bounce for extra yardage.

That was the case last weekend against Tennessee as McKinstry misplayed a couple of returns, including a 71-yard punt that bounced down to the Alabama 3-yard line. Volunteers punter Jackson Ross finished the game with a 53.2 average on his five punts. Those types of averages have become too familiar for the Tide as it has allowed opponents to average 47.28 yards per punt this season.

Still, Alabama head coach Nick Saban isn’t planning on making any changes in his return man despite the recent struggles.

“First of all, Kool-Aid’s done a great job for us back there,” Saban said Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference. “And I think that a lot of people are kicking the ball away from him because we had a lot of success on punt return last year. So 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 referenced McKinstry’s mistakes against Tennessee, stating that the first of his two misjudged punts should have been caught while defending the returner a bit on the 71-yard punt.

“The last one that went to the one-yard line, which was significant, he really misjudged the ball,” Saban said. “These guys that are rugby punters, the ball doesn’t travel exactly like a normal punt, so this ball flew on him a little bit.

“You can 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, and rather than take a chance on doing that, he let the ball go and unfortunately for us, it rolled to the one-yard line.”

McKinstry’s punt-returning ability was a must-watch event last season as the starting cornerback dazzled his teammates with his ability to weave through defenders for big returns.

“Everybody gets up and goes looks like, ‘Let’s see what Kool-Aid is going to do on this drive,’” Former Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. said last year. “He actually has a little shake and bake to him believe it or not, so when we watch him, everybody is on the sideline laughing all the time. He actually gets out and he actually can move very well. He’s very athletic.

Saban shares that same confidence in McKinstry and believes he will shake off his recent special teams struggles.

“I don’t think he has an issue,” Saban said Wednesday. “He wants to be back there. He wants to be aggressive. He wants to do what he has to do to be able to return punts. And we have total confidence in him.”