Alabama Football: 5 early signees who’ll have instant impact in 2019
5. Will Reichard (K/Hoover, Ala.)
The only non-blue chipper of the 2019 recruiting class happens to fill the biggest position of need for the Crimson Tide. Three-star Will Reichard, the nation’s top-ranked kicker, comes to Tuscaloosa in hopes of finally solving the lone weakness of Nick Saban’s dynasty.
Reichard isn’t the first highly regarded kicker to choose Alabama during this time, but they all have somehow developed the yips once they arrived in Tuscaloosa, shanking makeable field goals and doinking extra points off the uprights.
Can Reichard end the misery in the kicking game for the Alabama for the next four years? If he does, he’ll be hailed as nothing short of a deity; fans constructing relics and statues in praise of his name to bow down and worship on the way into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Reichard figures to immediately be a factor in the kicking game in 2019. Redshirt freshman Joseph Bulovas has handled the place-kicking duties this season, and he is a former highly-regarded kicker in his own right.
Bulovas has been solid on his field goal attempts, connecting on 12-of-16 of those kicks, but has been plagued by inconsistency. Bulovas is capable from 40-50 yards out, making 3-of-4 from 40+ on the season, but he is just as capable of missing kicks from less than 40 yards away that should be chipshots.
Three of his four missed kicks on the season have been from less than 40 yards out. The missed field goals would be forgivable, but his frustrating inaccuracy on extra points has been his biggest detriment. Constantly hugging the uprights and making each point-after an adventure, Bulovas has missed five extra points on the season, combing with senior Austin Jones to give Alabama a grand total of eight misses, which is more than the rest of the SEC combined.
Alabama’s kicking game has been laughed at for years, but it has arguably been worse than ever this season; Tua and the high-powered Bama offense have just made it not matter. But with the playoff forthcoming, and the margins-of-error shrinking, a doinked extra point could ultimately prove to be the difference in winning-and-losing.
Reichard will come in and immediately push for the starting kicking job, and could factor into the punting job as well with Saban mentioning his ability to punt in his post-signing day press conference on Wednesday. Freshman Skyler DeLong, one of the top punters from last season’s recruiting cycle, was benched after numerous shanks, giving way to walk-on senior Mike Bernier.