Alabama Football 2026: Meet the New Special Teamers

Dec 2, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide place kicker Will Reichard (16) reacts with punter James Burnip (86) after kicking a field goal against the Georgia Bulldogs during the second half in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

At long last, we’ve come to the end of all of Alabama’s new players for the upcoming season. If you’ve missed any of the previous entries in the series covering all of the positions groups, check out the consolidated story stream here:

Meet the New Guys 2026

But things aren’t quite done. No, Alabama brought in three fancy new transfer players to compete with (and likely take over) the three main specialist spots on special teams after the Tide trotted out one of the more disappointing kicking/punting games in the whole country last year. While there’s much less to analyze with each of these players, they still deserve a spotlight – especially since any of three could very well be the difference in multiple wins or losses next season.

Lorcan Quinn

Position: K

Transfer School: Marshall

Class: Sophomore

Stars: NA (recruit), 3 (transfer)

Hometown: Republic of Ireland

National Rank: NA (recruit), 2032 (transfer)

Position Rank: NA (recruit), 11 (transfer)

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 196

Hailing from across the pond in Ireland, Quinn was a “Gaelic football” player who just happened to join an event kicking footballs for a chance to win a couple of NFL tickets. That turned into some eyeballs that got him marketed a little bit and he wound up with an offer from Marshall.

“I’ve had guys in the NFL and across top-level colleges, and I’ll never forget Lorcan,” Coach Leader told BOL. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is beyond normal.’ It was freakish how he contacted the ball, how it jumped and rotated.

“Then the dude just showed zero emotion. He was kicking 58- to 60-yard field goals and didn’t even know what that meant, 10 minutes into kicking an American football for the first time. It was a pretty freakish introduction. I am by no means surprised by where he is today.”

Gaelic football is the national sport in Ireland. It’s played with a round ball and involves running, jumping, and striking the ball. It shares similarities with rugby. It’s also the same sport played by New Orleans Saints kicker Charlie Smyth, who went straight to the NFL despite having no previous American football experience.

Quinn was “like the quarterback of the team, except he uses his feet to hit moving targets,” his coach said. “But he was also the one who would take the free kick (similar to soccer), hence why he’s able to get such good pop on the ball and accuracy.”

After going 21-26, including 4-6 on 50+ yard field goals and being named first-team All-Sun Belt, Quinn hit the portal to get himself to an even bigger program – this time, Alabama.

Quinn has the leg to routinely drill 50-yarders without even taking steps, he used to kick balls with the intent of hitting moving targets, and he’s got a fast stride that allows him to get the ball of quick and high. There isn’t really anything not to like.

How he kicks under the pressure of playing for Alabama remains to be seen. That pressure has broken plenty of other kickers with impressive leg talent. But Quinn has as good of a shot as any to be a legitimate star player as a kicker.

As far as a prediction, he’s technically coming in to compete with incumbent kicker Conor Talty. But for what it’s worth, I think it’s highly unlikely that Quinn isn’t Alabama’s starter for 2026. He’s going to be that guy.

Adam Watford

Position: P

Transfer School: North Alabama

Class: Senior

Stars: NA (recruit), NA (transfer)

Hometown: Dothan, AL

National Rank: NA (recruit), NA (transfer)

Position Rank: NA (recruit), NA (transfer)

Height: 5’11”

Weight: 188

To the best I can tell, Watford was only taking a “priority walk-on” spot to play for Alabama. He wasn’t ranked as a recruit, nor was he ranked as a transfer. But before you get gloomy about the lack of hype, check out these fun facts:

• He was an FCS All-American punter last year. And, as it turns out, FCS and FBS both play with the same size football.
• He averaged 46.6 yards per punt last year (and 43.5 in his three year career of 169 total punts).
• He set an FCS single-season record with 17 punts going over 50 yards
• He also did this:

His hang time is unreal. And his tight mechanics to get the ball off quickly are a stark contrast to Alabama’s punting game last year.

I don’t suspect there’s much of any chance that redshirt freshman Alex Asparuhov will even be in much of a competition. Watford is going to be Alabama’s starting punter in 2026, and he’s going to be very, very good at it.

Ethan Stangle

Position: Long Snapper

Transfer School: Syracuse

Class: Redshirt Senior

Stars: NA (recruit), 3 (transfer)

Hometown: Bel Air, Maryland

National Rank: NA (recruit), 3173 (transfer)

Position Rank: NA (recruit), 28 (transfer)

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 219

Alabama had a very long streak (17 years) of long snappers all being perfect. Then 2025 happened, and we had a kicker yelling as a snapper on national TV. It wasn’t pretty.

In any case, the Tide went to the portal and pulled a starter from a P4 team in Stangle. He was a backup for the first three years of his career, but earned a starting role for Syracuse last year and, the best I can tell, didn’t have any blemishes. Plus a Syracuse message board I found seemed pretty upset about him leaving and someone even mentioned how good he was at getting downfield and covering punts after snapping.

Unfortunately, no one has made any highlight videos.

In any case, Stangle is a veteran with P4 starting experience, and he should be expected to be Alabama’s starting long snapper in 2026.