Is inconsistency in Alabama’s kicking game impacting DeBoer’s coaching decisions?

Nov 8, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide kicker Conor Talty (31) kicks a field goal against the Louisiana State Tigers during the first quarter of the game at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Leong-Imagn Images

Alabama’s kicking game has been a roller-coaster ride this season, something that fans were used to before the great Will Reichard came to Tuscaloosa.

Reichard is kicking for the Minnesota Vikings and does not have another year of eligibility to come kick for Alabama this year, so the Crimson Tide will have to stick with Conor Talty, a first-year starting placekicker.

Talty made two kicks from over 40 yards away in the LSU game but missed a chip shot from 26 yards out, making it the fifth kick he has missed in 2025. The sophomore has made 11 of his 16 field goal attempts and is perfect on PATs.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked if the inconsistency from the kicking game affects his decisions, and it sounds like he believes the kick that Talty missed had something to do with the execution of the snap and the hold.

“I actually don’t think it’s affected me much at all,” DeBoer said. “He kicked two 40-plus-yard field goals in the game. One got us the early lead of 3-0. The one at the end makes it a two-score game. I think it was 44 maybe. Somewhere in there. The one he missed; I think the great kickers can overcompensate for maybe the execution of the rest of the snap and the hold not being perfect, and that’s going to continue to be the growth.”

DeBoer probably does not need to say out loud that it is disappointing to not have points when you get the football down near the red zone, but one thing that DeBoer loves about Talty is his ability to have a short memory and execute perfectly on the following attempt.

“With him, when he’s had one that maybe didn’t go well, he’s able to respond and come back and make the next one,” DeBoer said. “And there’s been some big ones that he’s made that have stretched games, and it’s been maybe not in the last minute, but it’s been late. So, I think it’s part of the growth. It’s really his first year out there, and him being able to respond and take whatever happened, move it off to the side and go make the next one because that’s what is in front of him. That’s what you got to do.”

The great Ted Lasso would love to hear this as he tells his players at AFC Richmond to “be a goldfish” because they have a short-term memory. Talty’s miss from 26 yards out could have messed him up for the rest of the night, but he came back and powered through, making a field goal to put Alabama up by two scores late in the game.

DeBoer made sure to communicate that Talty does not affect his decision-making process for fourth downs, and he explained what all factored into Alabama punting the ball when in LSU territory as the Crimson Tide led by eight in the fourth quarter.

“We punted probably about as close as we’ve been all year late in the game there, and that’s the one where we pinned them deep, but we were just so far out, and it was a fourth and pretty long,” DeBoer said. “To me, that really wasn’t one that was as hard of a decision. I really can’t say that my choices to go. I think we’re going to be aggressive. You guys have heard that from me. We’re going to play to win at the right times, but when we get down in there, I trust our defense too. If we don’t convert, like we did early in the game, I trust that our defense will have a great mindset to go out there and play ball, and it doesn’t affect them. You can’t put them in bad spots over and over again, but they’re gonna bow up and do their job.”

People are going to continue holding their breath when Talty attempts a field goal as the sophomore placekicker has missed a kick in the last four games that he’s attempted field goals. Talty did not attempt a field goal against Tennessee or South Carolina as the opportunity never came up for an Alabama field goal.