Sophomore Will Reichard Back Kicking Field Goals, Extra Points for Alabama

After missing more than half of last season, Will Reichard has regained Alabama's starting job at kicker

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama's initial depth chart won't be released for another week, but one spot appears to be secure. 

Sophomore Will Reichard has regained the role he had a year ago, as the Crimson Tide's kicker for field goals and extra points. 

"Will was four-of-five today," Nick Saban said after Saturday's scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Stadium. "I think he missed like a 55-yarder or something so he’s been doing really well from a kicking standpoint so a lot of things to work on, a lot of things to improve but certainly not at all disappointed in the progress that we’ve made to this point.”

Kicking and punting have been a sore spot with the Crimson Tide, especially last season. 

Reichard, a highly-prized kicker out of nearby Hoover High School, won the starting job but ended up playing in just five games due to a hip injury. 

He totaled 33 points on 4-of-7 field goals and 21-of-22 PATs, and kicked off 29 times with an average of 63.1 yards per kick with 22 touchbacks. Doing some double-duty, he punted four times for 152 yards with a long of 41 .

Redshirt junior Joseph Bulovas also remains it the mix, but Saban said the rest of the pecking order at kicker has yet to be determined along with the kicker on kickoffs. 

"There's still a lot of competition at the kicking position," he said. "Joseph's still here and he has a lot of experience and he's actually made improvement this fall, and we have some other guys that are in the program that have done extremely well. 

"So there's a lot of competition there and I'm not ready to single anybody out. We're still trying to figure out who the best kicker is."

Saban mentioned earlier in the week that Reichard would be the emergency punter. Per practice videos the team has released, Ty Perine has been leading the group through drills, ahead of senior Charlie Scott 

"The specialists have done really, really well," Saban said. "A couple of punters have been pretty consistent."

Although Alabama's return and coverage units were very good in 2019, the Crimson Tide was 12th in league field goals (.667 percentage), and last in SEC punting (35.6 average).

Alabama's official depth chart will be released the Monday before the season opener at Missouri on Sept. 26.