19 for 19: Will Alabama’s kicking and punting improve?
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Alabama will begin its quest for an 18th national title on Aug. 31 when the Crimson Tide takes on Duke inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. To help pass the time until then, BamaInsider is answering 19 important questions concerning the 2019 season.
Today we continue the series by taking a look at Alabama's kicking and punting situations.
We won’t hide this topic behind the veil of special teams. As Nick Saban pointed out this spring, “When you say special teams, you think of punter and kicker.” In that case, we’ll come out and ask it: Will Alabama see improvement at kicker and punter this season?
The short answer is that it’d be hard for the Crimson Tide to do much worse. The numbers, as Alabama fans are all aware by now, were damning.
Last season, Alabama missed an SEC-worst nine extra points, several clanging loudly off the uprights. To put things into perspective, the nine failed tries were more than the Crimson Tide had missed in the previous seven years combined.
The doinked extra points received most of the attention, but in reality, the punting was worse. Alabama ranked No. 128 of 130 NCAA Division I teams, as Skyler DeLong and Mike Bernier combined to average 35.76 yards per attempt.
As discouraging as those statistics appear, this spring brought a bit of optimism. Alabama welcomed in highly-rated freshman kicker Will Reichard, who was accurate on all four of his extra-point attempts while also sending a 43-yard field goal effortlessly through the uprights during the A-Day game.
Reichard, a Hoover, Ala., native, was 27 of 31 on field goals and made all 109 of his extra-point attempts during his high school career. He’s also a capable punter as demonstrated by his six punts which went for an average of 42.2 yards on A-Day.
“I think the guy’s a really talented guy,” Saban said on Early Signing Day in December. “I mean, he’s a really good person, hard worker, really good specialist in all regards. He can punt. He’s a really good kicker.”
While Reichard could seemingly be the one-stop solution to all of Alabama’s kicking and punting woes, he might not need to be. After struggling mightily during his freshman season last year, DeLong appeared to turn the corner this spring. That included a strong A-Day performance where he averaged 47.5 yards on four punts with a long of 54 while pinning his opponent inside the 20-yard line on two separate occasions.
“See, nobody wants to talk about the punter,” Saban said after watching Scott’s 54-yard punt during the A-Day scrimmage. “But that guy was a freshman last year, alright, and he was very, very nervous. And he’s gotten a lot better.”
Like Reichard, DeLong came to Alabama with high expectations. The former three-star prospect was the No. 2 punter in the nation according to ChrisSailerKicking.com and was thought to follow in the footsteps of JK Scott. However, that hype soon dissipated as he lost his job to Bernier after averaging 34.4 yards on 16 punts.
“People should believe in development,” Saban said. “Everybody wants an immediate outcome instead of focusing on what you need to do to get an outcome. He’s got more confidence. We work with him. We work on his drop, his speed in getting rid of the ball more quickly. So now he’s just become a little more consistent. So, hopefully, we can carry that into the season.”
Outside of Reichard and DeLong, Alabama also returns redshirt sophomore kicker Joseph Bulovas, who made 14 of 18 (77.8 percent) of his field goal attempts last season while missing six extra points. While Reichard is likely to take over placekicking duties, Bulovas’ strong leg could be used on kickoffs. Bernier, a redshirt senior, is still listed on the team’s roster but entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal in April.