Alabama’s kicking game has been a thorn in the side of the Crimson Tide all season. And it reached a boiling point Saturday night against Eastern Illinois when the Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd turned on Conor Talty after yet another missed field goal. The redshirt sophomore has been wildly inconsistent all year, sitting at just 11-of-18 on field goal attempts with a particularly troubling 2-of-4 mark from 20-29 yards. Those missed kicks have cost Alabama dearly. But Kalen DeBoer is still counting on Talty.

Despite the struggles and the fan backlash, head coach Kalen DeBoer made it clear Monday that Talty remains his guy going forward. “We’re gonna need him throughout the rest of the year. I know he’s giving everything he has. He cares about this team a lot,” DeBoer said. He is essentially confirming that Alabama is riding with Talty through the Iron Bowl and beyond.​

DeBoer’s commitment to Talty comes despite mounting pressure from a fanbase that’s grown increasingly frustrated with the kicking inconsistencies. After Talty missed a 28-yard chip shot that would’ve put Alabama up 17-0 late in the first quarter against Eastern Illinois, the boos rained down from the stands. The fans weren’t done, either. When Talty trotted back out for an extra point attempt later in the game, they booed him again before the snap. 

He made that kick, drawing cheers, but the damage was done. “I wish they’d have his back like I know our locker room has his back,” DeBoer said after the 56-0 win. “He’s working hard. He had a great week of practice. I don’t think he missed one all week and we put them all over the place. He’s gonna keep plugging away. Just want everyone’s support. He’s just like every other player on our football team, giving everything he has.”​

Talty’s struggles have been a season-long soap opera. But things hit rock bottom after the Oklahoma loss when cameras caught him yelling at long snapper David Bird following the missed 36-yard attempt. The snap was admittedly high. But holder Blake Dowd got it down cleanly before Talty shanked the kick. His reaction to Bird drew widespread criticism, including from SEC analyst Cole Cubelic, who tweeted, “If I’m looking through my legs, snapping a football, then trying to block multiple 300 pounders, I’ll be damned if I need you puffing up in my face running off the field after you shanked a kick.”

Kalen DeBoer downplayed the incident, calling it a sign of competitors who want to get things right. But the optics were terrible for a kicker who’s now 11-of-18 on the season and ranks 106th out of 119 kickers nationally in field goal percentage.​ DeBoer even rotated other kickers like Peter Notaro, Reid Schuback, and Tucker Cornelius in for extra point duties against Eastern Illinois, though he insisted it was about giving guys opportunities and unrelated to Talty’s performance.​

But despite all the missed kicks, all the boos, and all the mounting pressure, DeBoer is standing by his struggling kicker. Starting cornerback Zabien Brown even posted on his Instagram story defending Talty after the Eastern Illinois booing incident. It showed that at least the locker room has his back. The question is whether he can find the mental fortitude to bounce back from a brutal stretch of misses. DeBoer is betting everything that he can. And the Crimson Tide’s playoff hopes might just depend on whether that faith pays off.​

Preparing for the plains

The Iron Bowl is set for Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium. And Kalen DeBoer knows exactly what kind of atmosphere awaits his team. The Auburn venue has a well-earned reputation for eating visiting teams alive. It includes multiple memorable upsets of Alabama over the years, most notably the 2013 Kick Six game that still haunts Crimson Tide fans. 

But DeBoer, whose team is 9-2 and fighting for a College Football Playoff position, isn’t backing down from the challenge. “Rivalry game. Amazing environment. We’ve played in amazing environments throughout the year on the road at night,” DeBoer said Monday. “I get it. We understand it’s going to be a great experience there, and it’ll be one where we’re facing a team that wants to knock us off our goals and our hopes and all that.”​

The second-year Alabama head coach is preaching preparation over panic as his team gets ready to face a 5-6 Auburn squad desperate to play spoiler and keep its bowl hopes alive. 

“You’ve really got to simplify it down. You’ve got to prepare. Prepare for the noise, prepare for the emotions that come, and that’s what our season’s done for us. We’ve been through a lot of that,” DeBoer explained. “And again, there’ll be new challenges that present themselves in the game, and a lot of it will be a new matchup, guys that have different people in front of them, strengths and weaknesses of the opponent, every single week changes. We’re just going to prepare our best, focus on what we do because that’s what we’ve done all season long to go out there and be our best on Saturday.” It’s a measured approach from a coach who knows that in rivalry games, especially at Jordan-Hare Stadium, anything can happen.​