Why Will Reichard Came Back for Fifth Season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Back in mid-December, the Senior Bowl announced that Alabama kicker Will Reichard had accepted an invitation to the annual game. This would normally signify the end of a player's collegiate career.
However, less than a month later, Reichard announced that he would be coming back to Alabama for his fifth season.
The fifth-year kicker spoke to the media Thursday for the first time since announcing and explained why he wanted to come back for one last go round.
"As I look back on my career, I’m very excited about what as a team we’ve been able to accomplish, and I just felt like I had more room to improve before moving on to the next level," Reichard said. "Honestly, I didn't want to leave this place. I’ve been super blessed to meet a lot of people here and build relationships that I’ve been able to build. There’s a lot of people across the country that would love to play here, and there’s just something I wanted to be able to come back and finish my career here.”
Reichard already holds the Alabama record for career points (426) and kicking points in a season (137.) If he makes at least 22 field goals this season, he will surpass Leigh Tiffin for the record of career field goals made. (For reference, Reichard made exactly 22 field goals in 2021 and 2022.)
He was also a big part of the Crimson Tide's perfect national championship run in 2020, going a perfect 84-for-84 on extra points and 14-for-14 on field goal attempts.
Alabama punter James Burnip, who has been Reichard's holder the last two seasons, said he was surprised by the kicker's Instagram post.
"I was reading it, and I just thought it was a declaration [for the NFL draft,] and then it said he was coming back," Burnip said. "I smiled and gave him a call straight away."
Burnip is a redshirt junior and will be able to come back to Alabama next year, but the 2023 season will wrap up Reichard's eligibility, marking the final year the two can work together. Earlier in fall camp, head coach Nick Saban talked about the asset the special teams duo is to the program and the confidence they have as a program in both guys.
"Will’s been as good a college kicker over the last 2-3 years as anybody could ever ask for," Saban said. "We’re really glad to have both those guys back. I think it’s gonna be an important part of – you’ve gotta have great special teams, and sometimes people just look at the specialist and they evaluate the special teams. So our specialists should be really, really good, so we’ve gotta build really, really good special teams around them so that that can be a real asset for us this season."
See also:
How Alabama Can Still Develop Depth at this Point in Fall Camp
