Saban maintaining faith in Griffith

photo Alabama punter Adam Griffith

Alabama would not have celebrated its 20-13 overtime win at LSU early Sunday morning had it not been for redshirt sophomore kicker Adam Griffith.

Griffith's 27-yard field goal with three seconds left in regulation enabled the Crimson Tide to pull into a 13-13 tie and force the extra time. The kick was no guarantee, given the recent struggles of Griffith and the recent struggles of Alabama when it comes to clutch attempts in rivalry games.

"I have all the confidence in the world in Adam Griffith," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said in a news conference this week. "The problem around here is everybody thinks the kicker is going to make every kick, and that is just not going to happen. I guess everybody thinks we're going to win every game, too, but I don't think that's ever going to always happen."

Griffith entered late in regulation against the Tigers having missed five of his last eight field-goal attempts.

The 5-foot-10, 188-pound former Calhoun High standout opened this season with a 4-for-4 performance in the 33-23 win over West Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta. Griffith wound up making his first seven kicks, suffering his first miss against Florida on Sept. 20, and he is 11-of-16 entering Saturday's home game against No. 1 Mississippi State.

"We have confidence in him, and he obviously showed being worthy of that confidence by making big kicks in this last game," Saban said. "He has been a real warrior for us this year in the way he has battled through some injuries, which has affected his preparation to some degree, but he never complains about it, and he is always there to kick when we need him in the games.

"He's done a really good job of kicking off -- nobody thinks that matters -- in terms of ball placement and distance and getting some touchbacks for us. We have a lot of confidence in him, and hopefully he'll be able to stay hot for us."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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