The Loop

Alabama's new 6' 7" walk-on Richard Hunt is the tight end this post-Gronk world deserves

DickHuntCrop.jpg

If you lost track of the calendar in the tumult of March Madness this weekend and looked up to find this picture of Alabama's new walk-on tight end staring back at you, no one would blame you for thinking this was an April Fools' joke cooked up by the creative folks down in the 'Bama social media department. His name is Richard Hunt for God's sake. It's almost too obvious. There's just one little problem: It won't be April for another week.

So yes, despite all the evidence to the contrary, Dick Hunt, is, in fact, a real person with a real football future in Tuscaloosa. There's even a non-zero chance that's his real afro and not an Andy Samberg wig (do they make those? Asking for a friend). Even more surprising, however, is that Hunt is about to suit up for the most dominant college football program in human history having played one season of organized football in his entire life, recording FOUR TOUCHDOWNS on just nine catches during his senior year at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee. Go ahead, check your calendar again if you don't believe us. Still says March, doesn't it?

Curiously, Dick's arrival on the national football landscape also coincides with the loss of one Gronk Gronkowski, who announced his retirement at the age of 29 on Sunday. Make of that what you will, but perhaps Hunt is not a joke at all, but a plea from the universe for balance—a cosmic counterweight designed to re-establish equilibrium in a world turned upside down. The glorious truth evades us yet, but for now we take solace in knowing that Dick Hunt, no matter his purpose here on earth, is as real as you, me, and that new Miami punter.