Will Reichard is undoubtedly the best kicker Alabama has ever seen. During last weekend's win over Texas A&M he showed he is also a pretty good punter as well.

Alabama's special teams unit was forced into an unexpected switch against the Aggies when punter James Burnip suffered a lower leg injury while attempting to cover his second punt of the game in the second quarter. That forced Reichard to put in a double shift.

Stepping back into a role he hadn't taken on since his freshman year, Reichard filled in for Burnip for the remainder of the game while still maintaining his kicking duties.

Reichard averaged a respectable 41.2 yards on four punts and more importantly, booted the ball high enough to keep dangerous Texas A&M returner Ainias Smith at bay. The fill-in performance saw the graduate kicker pick up player of the week honors from Alabama's coaching staff and a bit of extra praise from his head coach.

In fact, during his weekly "Hey Coach" radio show Thursday night, Nick Saban said he actually felt a bit more comfortable with Reichard punting to the Aggies.

“One of my biggest worries in the game is that James will out-kick his coverage,” Saban said. “[Anias Smith] had 0 return yards when Will was punting because Will isn’t going to punt it 60 yards, he’s going to punt it 40, it’s going to have hang time and when the ball comes down there’s gonna be four guys standing around the guy. I hated seeing James get hurt, but I felt better about covering the punts when Will was punting against that guy.”

Burnip has been one of the nation's top punters this season, averaging 48.67 yards per attempt. That includes nine punts of 50 yards or more. However, he boomed his final boot against Texas A&M too far, allowing Smith to run it back for a 46-yard return.

Earlier this week, Saban listed Burnip as a game-time decision for this weekend's matchup against Arkansas. If he is unable to go, Reichard is expected to continue to fill in as the Tide's punter.

As for Reichard's main role on special teams, he is in line to reach a major milestone against the Razorbacks. The Hoover, Alabama native currently has 480 career points, just one away from breaking the SEC all-time scoring record and 50 points away from breaking the NCAA all-time scoring record.

Through six games this season, Reichard has made all 12 of his field goal attempts and each of his 18 extra-point tries. He's also averaging 63 yards per kickoff with 22 touchbacks on 36 attempts.

“Will Reichard is fantastic,” Saban said. “To have really good specialists on your team is a tremendous asset. He’s very accurate, he has a strong leg, what a great person. You couldn’t find someone who’s a better guy, more committed to being the best he can be. He’s outstanding as a football player, as a kicker, no doubt.”