All season, Conor Talty has been shaky for Alabama football. On Saturday, following another missed kick, the Crimson Tide fans showed their displeasure with the kicker.
Talty missed a 28-yard attempt in the first quarter of Alabama’s Saturday matchup with Eastern Illinois at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After the kick, as Talty and the special teams unit ran off the field, UA fans loudly booed him.
When Talty returned the field in the second quarter for an extra point, he got another round of boos. The crowd did cheer when he made the kick.
The miss dropped Talty to 11-for-18 on all field goals this season. He is now 2-for-4 on kicks from 20-29 yards.
Fans were already unhappy with Talty after last week’s Alabama loss to Oklahoma. During that game, a snap went high on a 36-yard field goal attempt, though UA’s holder corralled it and got it down.
Talty missed the kick anyway. On the way off the field, he shouted at long-snapper David Bird, something Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer disapproved of, and others around the college football world criticized.
“We’re all competitive, and those guys are competitive,” DeBoer said Monday. “And they want to make that kick and have the execution be at a high level. And every single one of those guys are always taking ownership. But obviously, in that moment, Conor’s a competitive guy, and he knows how important those points are. And the response and everything like that, not exactly what you want, but it’s also an understanding of how important it is to these guys.
“And they work together relentlessly in practice. I see it. There’s a cohesiveness that these guys have. And so, in the locker room, I think they got that resolved very quickly after the fact and were ready to go out there and execute more throughout the game.”
Talty took over as Alabama’s kicker this season, after spending two seasons sitting behind Will Reichard and Graham Nicholson. Peter Notaro battled with Talty for the kicking job throughout preseason camp, and is still on the roster, alongside fellow kickers Reid Schuback and Tucker Cornelius.
Alabama and Eastern Illinois is available for streaming through SEC Network+. The Crimson Tide has one game remaining in the regular season after facing the Panthers and will travel to Auburn next Saturday for the Iron Bowl.
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