With his heels resting on the goal line, Ty Perine was just a preferred walk-on forced into action because of an injury. But with only two plays, he punted his way into Alabama fans’ hearts.

The walk-on punter made the first appearance of his career in the third quarter of the Tennessee game. On 4th and 6 at the Crimson Tide’s 13-yard line, Thomas Fletcher snapped the ball, and Perine booted it 42 yards down the field for no return -- to teammates and fans’ delight.

The team’s second punt of the evening drew a raucous reaction from the crowd packed into Bryant-Denny Stadium, and his teammates mobbed him on his way back to the sideline.

“He did a fantastic job,” tight end Miller Forristall said. “The crowd loved it, and so did we.”

It was his second punt and the third of the game, however, that brought the house down.

On 4th and 2 at the Alabama 37, Perine jogged onto the field for the second time and boomed a 51-yard punt to Volunteers returner Marquez Callaway. The Tide’s longest punt of the season went farther than the reliable coverage unit, and Callaway was able to pick up 22 yards.

But the 6-foot-2, 204-pound receiver was met by the 6-foot-1, 190-pound punter and didn’t gain another yard. The punt and tackle were met with one of the loudest ovations of the evening.

“That might be one of the best things I’ve seen in a minute,” safety Jared Mayden said.

Perine entered the game after Will Reichard reinjured a nagging hip injury. The freshman from Prattville, Ala., got the nod ahead of sophomore Skyler DeLong, who has been inconsistent in his first two seasons. And with Reichard likely sidelined at least another week, Perine seems to have seized his moment by doing what he’s shown in pregame warmups this season.

Alabama walk-on punter Ty Perine

“He’s a guy that’s just a walk-on that has gotten better throughout the course of the year,” head coach Nick Saban said, “and we thought that it’s time for him to get an opportunity based on some of the struggles we’ve had at that position. And I thought he responded really well.”

Alabama’s 42.0 yards per punt against Tennessee was its best average of the season thanks to Perine’s pair of punts traveling 93 yards for an average of 46.5 yards per kick. His 51-yard punt was the team’s longest of 2019 by seven yards, and his effort in his debut earned Perine a nod from the coaches as a special teams player of the week along with linebacker Ale Kaho.

Perine performed like a veteran, but he’s “a baby” when it comes to punting experience.

“He still has more work to do, and he’s just going to get better,” said Mike McCabe, owner and founder of One On One Kicking who trains Perine. “I mean, I’m excited to see what he can do his senior year when he keeps improving.”

Perine has worked with McCabe since his junior year at Prattville (Ala.) High School, and the areas where the preferred walk-on has made the most strides are his timing and mechanics.

“His mechanics were just all leg and tossing the ball out there, and now, he’s nice and smooth and you’ll see he stays short,” McCabe said. “We don’t want to be longer than three and a quarter yards on our plant. And he drove up through the ball great.

“That’s what we want because when you hit the ball, you want to hit it right at that leg-lock point that the speed of your leg with your body weight drives the ball to where it needs to go.”

A former All-American at Illinois State University, McCabe trains several professional specialists, including Johnny Hekker, Cairo Santos, Ryan Allen, Kaare Vedvik and Johnny Townsend. A few of the pros were present when McCabe clocked Perine with a 5.5-second hang time on a punt during a May workout -- one that McCabe is eager to tell anyone and everyone about.

“I’ve never seen anybody in high school do that in 20 years,” McCabe said. “I have 18 pros that I train, and a couple of them were out there going, ‘Oh my God.’ They were impressed, as well.”

Ty Perine, Alabama commit, smoked some great punts this Sunday at our Birmingham location. Watch this! I’m the cage drill pressure cooker he nails a 5.5 Bomb. Amazing job Ty.

@tylan_perine #oneononekicking #oneononetrained pic.twitter.com/iqVhSLZx4q — Coach Mike McCabe (@_Mike_McCabe) May 3, 2019

Punts like this and what he accomplished this past weekend are why McCabe believes Perine can keep this up the rest of the season if Alabama chooses to keep using him at punter.

“It’s unlimited,” McCabe said of Perine’s potential. “Kaare Vedvik, he’s been from Baltimore to the Vikings and a very similar talent. Just unlimited potential of what he can do consistently with the ball. So, his ceiling’s very high, especially when you’ve got a really fast leg like he does.

“I mean, he’s very strong and you have that extra weight. So, as he keeps growing in that weight room -- and Alabama’s got an amazing strength coach -- that’s just going to gain more yardage and hang time when you have that extra body mass.”

Alabama entered the Tennessee game averaging 34.54 yards per punt in the first six games, which ranked 129th nationally out of 130 teams. Perine’s strong debut was 12 yards per punt better than that, giving Crimson Tide fans something to cheer about in the kicking game.

“That’s a good quick way to earn a scholarship,” McCabe said. “It really is. If you keep balling out and doing your job, they’re going to reward you for it.”

That would suit Perine and his teammates just fine.

The two punts and tackle were some of the top moments in the 35-13 win over the Vols and had an energizing effect on the rest of the team. But his sheer willingness to play the game without a scholarship is one that resonates with some of Alabama’s veterans. They admire Perine, who turned down an offer from Army to walk on at UA, for simply sticking it out.

“To me, it’s awesome because it makes you remember to not take anything for granted,” outside linebacker Terrell Lewis said. “Especially like the punter, Giles Amos, guys like that inspire you to go harder because they chose to do this on top of everything else that they have going into this sport.

“They chose to deal with the discipline, going to class, putting up with the stuff that we kind of complain about at times. So, it kind of makes you not take it for granted.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).