Replacing Will Reichard might be a two-man job for Alabama. During last weekend’s season-opening win over Western Kentucky, the Crimson Tide split its kicking duties, as Miami-Ohio transfer Graham Nicholson attempted most of the extra-point tries while redshirt freshman Conor Talty handled kickoffs.

During his weekly radio show Wednesday night, head coach Kalen DeBoer explained his strategy, stating that the approach should keep both kickers fresh, especially when the offense is scoring like it did during the 63-0 victory over Western Kentucky.

“If you have the possibilities to let some of those guys rotate ... those kicks add up,” DeBoer said Wednesday. “Especially when you score 63 points. If one guy is doing all the duties of kicking off and field goals or the PATs, that’s going to be 10, close to 20 kicks in a game. That will wear on you over the course of the season.”

Alabama did not attempt a field goal against the Hilltoppers but did convert on all nine of its extra-point tries. Seven of those were knocked in by Nicholson, while Talty tallied the other two. Meanwhile, Talty handled all 10 of Alabama’s kickoffs, averaging 63.9 yards per kick while recording five touchbacks.

“Just taking the extra kicks off of their legs I think will help out over the long run,” DeBoer said. “We’ll continue to maybe adjust it week to week, but just both of them have those strengths, and it matched up really well to what we wanted to do.”

Nicholson joined Alabama in late April after winning the Lou Groza Award at Miami-Ohio last season. During his award-winning campaign, the Cincinnati native connected on 27 of 28 field-goal attempts and 35 of 37 extra-point tries. That included hitting an NCAA single-season record 25 straight field-goal attempts. Nicholson also handled kickoff duties for Miami-Ohio, averaging 63.55 yards per kick with 52 touchbacks on 73 attempts

Talty signed with Alabama as part of its 2023 class. The Chicago native appeared in three games last season, averaging 60.83 yards on six kickoffs while connecting on his lone extra-point attempt.

“He’s got a great leg,” DeBoer said, “and we ended up with a lot of touchbacks in the game.”

Nicholson and Talty will return to action on Saturday when No. 4 Alabama hosts South Florida at 6 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.