MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- When Joseph Bulovas was in high school and being recruited by top college football programs, his father came up with a three-word phrase to help his son through the process.

“Confidence, focus and poise.”

Fast forward to this Saturday, Bulovas moved into first place on Alabama’s single-season extra points list with 74 through 14 games. This happened after 13 games of up and down performances.

But the Crimson Tide’s redshirt freshman placekicker has simply moved onto the next kick.

“It doesn’t matter if I was terrible on the last kick or it was a 70-yard bomb right down the middle, it doesn’t matter. It’s the next one,” Bulovas told BamaOnLine in the locker room at Hard Rock Stadium after the Orange Bowl. “You kick each and every one with confidence, focus and poise.”

Bulovas took over Alabama’s placekicking responsibilities midway through the Arkansas State game after Temple graduate transfer Austin Jones missed three points after touchdowns in the first two games. And the former has maintained that starting special teams role ever since.

Dating back to Week 2, Bulovas is 74-of-79 (93.7 percent) on extra points and 13-of-17 (76.5) on field goals. Against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl semifinal Saturday, the 6-foot, 206-pound placekicker booted a 38-yard field goal just before intermission and was 7-of-7 on PATs.

“I felt good,” Bulovas said of his performance in his first College Football Playoff game. “I had a pretty decent warmup, felt pretty confident going into and luckily, our offense got rolling really quickly, so I got into a groove on kickoffs and field goals. I was able to put one through the uprights from 38 yards, but it was all about rhythm at that point because our offense was clicking.”

Bulovas has the eighth-best field goal percentage in the SEC but is last in extra points. Because of that, he has heard plenty from fans this seasons, but he doesn’t allow that to affect his poise.

Alabama placekicker Joseph Bulovas

“When someone points it out, I kind of laugh at it because the only thing that I care about is how the coaches feel about it, and at the end of the day, I’ve got to be where my feet are,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what Billy Bob says on Twitter and whatnot, it has no effect on me.

“And like I said, I’m confident, I’m focused and I’m poised with this game coming up. And the coaches believe in me, I believe in the system they’ve got me running with and we all feel good about where we’re at.”

One coach that has had a hand in Bulovas reaching a more consistent level of play is special teams coordinator Jeff Banks. A former college punter, Banks has been a tremendous help to Bulovas.

“I think he’s absolutely phenomenal at what he does,” Bulovas said of Banks. “He’s top of the line, that’s why we got him, and he’s been nothing but helpful for me. He’s really helped me improve as a player -- really every specialist has grown from him. His schemes are really tailored to what we do best, and I think any specialist would say the same thing about him.

“I mean, you can’t say enough about the guy as far as a football coach and mentoring specialists. He’s really phenomenal.”

Bulovas attributed his single-season extra points record to the success of Alabama’s offense this year, and that success has helped the Tide reach the CFP National Championship Game for four years in a row. Just like he’s expected to make PATs, UA is expected to play for titles.

“I think it’s expectation,” Bulovas said. “I mean, that’s kind of why you come here, to play in these type of games and the game we’re about to play in. And I think that speaks very highly of the people we have on our team, and I think it’s just really the expectation. That’s why you come here, to win championships and help the team win.

“I think that’s how we all feel right now, and we’re just going to enjoy this one for 24 hours and get back to work because we’re not done yet.”

Bulovas and his teammates will be back on the practice field this afternoon at 3:40 p.m. CT.

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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