Conor Talty

The story everyone in Tuscaloosa is still chewing on isn't a stat — it's a sound. After Talty missed against Oklahoma and was caught on ESPN cameras chewing out long-snapper David Bird on his way off the field, the next home crowd booed him before extra points and erupted when a backup warmed up. DeBoer publicly pushed back — "I wish they'd have his back like I know our locker room has his back" — and that coach-versus-fanbase split has become the through-line of his offseason.

The receipts cut both ways. Talty finished 2025 at just 69.6% on field goals with a long of 46, a number that screams replaceable for a program that expects perfection. But the same season produced the counter-evidence: a redemption swing in the Iron Bowl, where he drilled a 45-yarder into the breeze, and DeBoer's trust paying off in the Playoff win over Oklahoma. He didn't shy from the heat — he had the window to leave and didn't. "He knew he had plenty of time to leave if he wanted to," DeBoer said. "He wanted to stay here."

Now Alabama has brought in Lorcan Quinn, the Northern Irishman who was one of the nation's best at Marshall, and DeBoer has declared it flat-out: "It's open competition." Through spring the two traded reps with no clear leader. So the boards have their question for 2026 — can the most-booed kicker in college football quiet his own stadium and beat out a sharpshooter for the job, or is the redemption arc about to end with someone else's leg?