Prior to this season, Will Reichard would already have been remembered as one of the best kickers in the history of Alabama football, but with each passing week, his legacy grows to even greater heights.
During Alabama’s 24-21 win over Arkansas on Saturday, Reichard reached another milestone as he became the SEC all-time points leader following an extra point try in the first half.
Following the game, Reichard made his way to social media and shared his reaction.
Blessed🙏🏻🙏🏻 RTR https://t.co/Oy19flmuru
— Will Reichard (@WillReichard) October 14, 2023
Through seven games Reichard is a perfect 13-of-13 in field goal attempts, six of which come from 40 yards or longer, and is also a perfect 21-of-21 on extra point tries.
His head coach Nick Saban was also alerted of his accomplishment after the game where he spoke glowingly about his kicker.
“I’m extremely happy for Will,” Saban said.”Honestly, I don’t really keep up with those types of things, but really happy for him. he has been, probably, as good a player at his position e even though he’s a specialist – as anybody that we’ve ever had here. And he’s an even better person.”
It’s not often you see players as accomplished as Reichard decide to return for a fifth season, but Saban believes the hometown kid made an excellent choice to enhance his draft stock while also taking full advantage of NIL opportunities.
“I think that he wanted to come back and try to improve his kickoffs so that he would have a better chance to be successful in the NFL,” Saban said,” and I think this is one of the good things that name, image and likeness brings to players, that the guy didn’t have to be poor and not be able to earn money and be able to come back and do that as a college player as opposed to going to the draft, being a free agent possibly not making a team and you’re out.
“So that’s one of the very good things, I think, about name image and likeness and players having opportunities to have a better quality of life while they’re in college because they can stay and enhance their career if they need to. And Will was smart enough to understand that that was something that could benefit him and his future.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
