Alabama football special teams coordinator Jay Nunez used to get in the car with his high school friends in Alva, Okla. on Saturdays to make a three-hour drive to Norman. The youngsters would pull into town, watch Oklahoma play, then turn around and drive home.

Starting with the 2022 season, Nunez found himself coaching special teams for the Sooners, back in his home state.

“Coach (Brent) Venables, I owe him the world,” Nunez said Wednesday. “He pulled me out of Eastern Michigan to go home and coach at a school like that.”

Then, after two seasons in Norman, Nunez left home again. He took a job coaching special teams for new Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer.

It wasn’t easy for the Sooner State native.

“I’m a big believer in, God tells you where he wants you to be if you just shut up and listen,” Nunez said. “Which is very, very hard to do most of the time.”

DeBoer and Nunez had never worked together before this season. However, they had mutual friends, as Nunez had followed behind his new boss at Southern Illinois and Eastern Michigan.

“The name kept following kind of where I was at,” DeBoer said Monday. “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.”

On Saturday, Nunez and the Crimson Tide are returning to Norman. Alabama and Oklahoma will face off for the first time since 2018.

It’s a huge game for the Tide. UA will be expected to win easily against a team that has only won one SEC matchup this season, and a loss would effectively knock DeBoer and company out of College Football Playoff contention.

It’s been an emotional week for Nunez, who said he hadn’t slept at all.

“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.”

In the meantime, DeBoer praised his contributions to Alabama’s 2024 efforts.

“He touches pretty much every player (while) 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.”

Alabama and Oklahoma are scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Norman. The game will be aired on ABC.