Pappanastos provides name and leg for Bama
Alabama’s run of kickers during the Nick Saban era has included some relatively simple names.
Adam Griffith was the Crimson Tide’s starter the past three seasons, and before him were Cade Foster and Jeremy Shelley.
Andy Pappanastos, a graduate transfer from Montgomery, knows he’s a bit different in that area. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder who started his college career at Ole Miss owns a last name that is challenging to fit on a football jersey, and it’s one that has been shortened to “Papa Nasty” on occasion.
“I’ve had a couple of nicknames everywhere I’ve been and have heard a lot of them,” Pappanastos said after last week’s 41-23 victory over Colorado State. “A lot of coaches have called me that, because it’s easier than my last name. It is a lot of letters.”
Pappanastos (pronounced Pap-uh-NASS-tus) heads into Saturday afternoon’s game at Vanderbilt with a lot of letters and a lot of momentum. He’s 7-of-9 on field-goal attempts this season, having made five in a row. Both of his misses were in the 24-7 season-opening win over Florida State inside Atlanta’s $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I feel a whole lot more comfortable now,” Pappanastos said. “It was really nice to get in that environment, and I tried to do the best that I could and took some positives away, but I felt like I left a lot out there. I didn’t necessarily have the greatest game, but I took some pieces from it and put things together in practice.
“I think I’m in a good routine and a good rhythm right now.”
Pappanastos is 3-for-3 from 20 to 29 yards, 2-for2 from 30 to 39 yards and 2-for-4 from 40 to 49 yards.
“I think he’s done a really good job for us all year,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. “The kicks he missed were a little longer kicks, but I’ve noticed other people having a little trouble kicking over there, too, with their footing on a new field.
“He’s been really consistent the last couple of games.”
Late in the first quarter of last week’s win, Saban sent in senior punter JK Scott to attempt a 52-yarder, which he missed. Saban said this week that Scott would continue to handle the long-range attempts and that determining the kicker for the length of the attempt would be based on the conditions at that time.
Pappanastos redshirted at Ole Miss in 2013 and played in five games total during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, missing his only field-goal try and going 8-for-9 on extra points. He arrived at Alabama before the start of last season and had his best game a year ago in the 31-3 defeat of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, when he came in for an injured Griffith and made a 33-yard field goal and two extra points.
Although Saturday’s Southeastern Conference opener is plenty important given that the top-ranked Tide and Commodores are each 3-0, Pappanastos knows next week will be a little unique when Ole Miss comes to Tuscaloosa.
“I’m pretty old now, so a lot of my friends there have actually already graduated,” Pappanastos said. “I still talk a good bit with their kicker and punter. It’s going to be strange. I loved my time there and am grateful for it, but it’s just another game.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.