Alabama special teams analyst Jay Nunez facing bittersweet return to Oklahoma

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama’s road game at Oklahoma will be bittersweet for Jay Nunez.

A native of Alva, Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide’s special teams senior analyst spent the last two seasons with the Sooners before agreeing to join Kalen DeBoer’s first staff at Alabama.

The upcoming trip to Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 23, is keeping Nunez up at night.

“I haven’t slept at all,” Nunez said after Alabama’s Wednesday practice. “I don’t wanna say it’s emotional, but I grew up in Oklahoma. My senior year, I literally played Friday nights, got in the car with my best friend … drove three hours, watched the game and came back. 

“So working there for two years was literally a dream come true.”

When Nunez agreed to leave his home state and work for DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, he was able to say goodbye to Oklahoma’s specialists, who he worked with every day, but he didn’t get the chance to speak with the other players who contributed on special teams. He’s hopeful that he gets that opportunity during pregame warmups before Saturday’s game.

“There’s a lot of positional guys that played special teams that I never got to say goodbye to.” Nunez said. “Excited to give some of those guys a hug if they want to. If not, I’ll put my head down and cry. But there’s some bittersweetness to it, for sure.”

Nunez is one of several new assistants that DeBoer brought in this offseason. They had never worked together in the past, but Nunez worked at a couple of schools just after DeBoer moved on to his next stop. In 2016, Nunez became the special teams coordinator at Southern Illinois. Three years prior, DeBoer served as the offensive coordinator of the Salukis. Nunez was hired at Eastern Michigan in 2017, one year after DeBoer was the offensive coordinator.

“I followed him so many places, we just knew so many people,” Nunez said. “The more it kind of came up, it was just like this makes a lot of sense for where I’m at in life, where I think God wants me in life.”

DeBoer added, “The name kept following where I was at, not necessarily obviously in my position, but just seemed to be a guy that really the staff related to well. Heard nothing but great things, and then when it came to production, just the variety of things that he did mostly with special teams but also coaching positions, just a really, really great football coach.”

Nunez has worked with Alabama’s specialists and special teams units this fall, and the highlight of his sector of the team has been punter James Burnip and the Tide’s punt coverage team. A redshirt senior, Burnip averages 45.32 yards per punt as a Ray Guy Award semifinalist, and his coverage unit is the best in the nation, allowing 0.71 yards per return.

But more than kickers and punters, Nunez works with just about every player on the team.

“He touches pretty much every player coaching the special teams,” DeBoer said. “Every player is in those meetings at some point throughout the week. He does a good job of just relating to them. He keeps them excited about special teams and understanding the significance, not just to our team now but the value it can bring them as they continue their careers well beyond their days here at Alabama. 

“He’s done a great job.”

Nunez said it didn’t take much to get guys to have the want-to to contribute on special teams because of the standard Nick Saban set before his retirement. He’s taken that baton and tried to continue preaching the importance of it by creating a culture for his players.

“I just set myself on fire, like, ‘Hey, this is the most important thing in the world,’ and I’m unwavering,” Nunez said. “People buy into that and feed into that. Is it picture-perfect always? No. But as always, if you can paint that picture of, ‘Hey, this is how this is gonna help you and help the team,’ guys buy in.”

Nunez hasn’t gotten much sleep this week, and that’s reminiscent of this February when DeBoer reached out to him about coordinating his special teams at Alabama. It was difficult for Nunez to leave Oklahoma, but he believes working for DeBoer is where he is meant to be.

“I grew up a fan,” Nunez said. “Coach (Brent) Venables, I owe him the world. He pulled me out of Eastern Michigan to go home and coach at a school like that. It wasn’t easy, but ultimately, after three nights of prayer and not much sleep, it was just what I felt like I needed to do.”

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