Javier Arenas nears several records

The numbers are impressive, but they’re not enough to describe Javier Arenas on a punt return.

Alabama’s senior return specialist is a human knuckleball in open space. His highlight reel is part game film, part cartoon. He dips, darts, dodges, stops, starts, cuts, feints and sprints away.

He’s done it very well for a very long time. In fact, Arenas is closing on all-time Southeastern Conference and NCAA punt return records.

This despite the fact that for much of this season, Alabama opponents have tried to eliminate Arenas from the return game. Gimmick kicks or punts out of bounds have given Alabama field position but taken attempts out of Arenas’ hands. The senior also missed the South Carolina game with bruised ribs.

Still, he should be a factor when the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide starts its stretch drive next Saturday at home against LSU.

He is the NCAA leader among active players in number of punt returns (112), yards (1,579) and touchdowns (six). He is just 117 yards away from Lee Nalley’s 54-year-old SEC record of 1,695 career yards. That was the NCAA record until Texas Tech’s Wesley Welker broke it in 2003. Arenas is 183 yards away from Welker.

Those are the numbers. But to talk to Arenas is to empathize with a defender trying to knock him off his feet in the open field.

He talks fast. He gets started on a topic and cuts sharply away, on to another tangent. He is stream-of-consciousness at warp speed.

But he is also thoughtful, cocky, honest and always entertaining. He’s at his best when discussing his craft — returning those punts. He said his style has changed over the last four years and credits head coach Nick Saban for it.

“When you try to break a big one, like I’ve done in the past, you end up losing yards or you fumble,” Arenas said. “You’re trying to do so much. From the initial point of attack, get what you can.”

He rarely went with a fair catch his freshman year.

“That’s something I learned when coach Saban got here,” Arenas said. “He taught me to make better decisions. I wasn’t necessarily wasn’t making bad decisions. I’d get drilled and still catch the ball. When I started dropping it, that’s when the decisions are declared as bad.”

Still, it burns him when he does make a fair catch and realizes he had more room than he thought.

“Yeah, it’s pretty frustrating because that could have been the one,” Arenas said. “I hate calling them sometimes. That’s why I just wave the hand one time, in case the referee don’t see it. I hate doing it, but it’s safe. It’s the safest decision a punt returner can make.”

He said special teams practice at Alabama makes catching kicks in a game seem easy.

“First of all, for real, in practice it’s hard to catch punts,” he said. “You got coach Saban literally breathing on the back of your neck. That’s never good.”

Saban said Arenas’ physical skills are matched by his desire and determination.

“He’s a great competitor; he wants to make plays,” the coach said. “I think our guys feed off his energy, in terms of wanting him to be able to make big plays.”

Even someone as reliable and accomplished as Arenas knows it’s a tough position to be in.

“You’ve got to have a lot of confidence back there because it’s almost like you against 11 guys,” he said. “Not saying your blockers don’t block, but you’re just back there by yourself and that’s what it feels like.

“You’re 40 yards deep by yourself and you’ve got to have a lot of confidence. You’ve got to. It’s a scary feeling back there sometimes, especially when the game is on the line. You make a mistake, it’s your fault. And you can’t blame nobody because everybody is 40 yards away.”

Arenas tried to describe what it’s like to catch a punt.

“The ball is real slow in a game. It’s like just sailing out there,” he said. “Everything’s way slower — until you catch it. Then everything’s like NASCAR.”

He sees you don’t understand. That you’re trying, but you’ll never know. The artist explaining his work.

“I’ve been doing it for four years, so it’s really hard to get inside and explain how slow the ball is going or what’s it like,” he said.

“I just go back there and do it. It’s like getting up and eating cereal in the morning, you know what I mean? I don’t know about y’all — you might eat bagels and coffee — but you get used to it. You can’t explain this stuff that you go through. I pour the cereal in the bowl ... you just do it.”

He does it well enough that Alabama’s return unit does try to slow the gunners, but basically ignores the next man down. That’s the guy who has the first shot at Arenas. That’s the guy who is in trouble.

“That’s why they don’t block him, ’cause he can’t even tackle me,” the senior said. “It’s hard to tackle anybody in the open field. Anybody.

“So, if you can’t make that first guy miss, you really shouldn’t be back there. ... Yeah, I don’t see that happening. Not the first guy.”