Spring Preview: Two Words Highlight Alabama's Special Teams, Turnover and Perfection
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With respect to the offense and defense, which will both need to replace some All-Americans for the 2021 college football season, neither has had as much offseason turnover as Alabama's special teams.
The one thing we know is that junior kicker Will Reichard can't do any better percentage-wise as he didn't miss a field goal or extra point all last season. He made all 14 field-goal attempts, the longest being from 52 yards, and Alabama was 84-for-84 on conversions.
But the player who snapped the ball is no longer on the roster. Long-snapper Thomas Fletcher wrapped up his career without having a botched attempt over four years and has a chance to be selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The holder is gone as well, quarterback Mac Jones.
At punt returner, Jaylen Waddle missed roughly half of last season after suffering a fractured ankle, but was still selected second-team All-SEC. Over his three seasons he averaged 19.3 yards per punt return, nearly six yards better than second place on the Crimson Tide career list.
DeVonta Smith was also a pretty good returner, but teams did everything they could to keep he and Waddle from burning them. Tight end Jahleel Billingsley ended up leading the national champions in kick returns with five.
Waddle and Smith are gone to the NFL, while reserve kicker Joseph Bulovas transferred, as did reserve linebacker Ale Kaho, who in 2019 recorded three blocked punts, one of which he recovered for a touchdown.
To cap it all off, special teams coordinator Jeff Banks followed Steve Sarkisian to Texas, and became the first seven-figure special-teams coach in college football.
So the turnover has been at all levels.
Taking over as coordinator is Jay Graham, who was the running backs coach at Tennessee last season, after two years as the co-offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Previous to that, Graham spent five years at Florida State (2013-17), during four of which he was the special-teams coordinator.
Punter Charlie Scott is also back for a final go-around after transferring in from Air Force last season. He averaged 39.2 yards per punt after taking over for Ty Perine, dropping nine of his kicks inside the 20 while forcing 15 fair catches.
That leaves Reichard, who was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award for best kicker in the nation, one of the few Alabama hasn't won at least once under Nick Saban. In addition to scoring 126 points, which was fifth in Division I, he was on 69 kickoffs for 3,614 yards to average 52.4 yards per kick with 14 touchbacks.
A lot of other things have to be worked out, beginning this spring, but don't expect a regression from Reichard.
"He’s the hardest working kicker that I’ve been around in my time here," Fletcher said late last season. "He just, he loves to kick. He loves to work out. He has the utmost confidence in himself, which is incredibly important at the specialist position, and he gives us an opportunity to win games.
"Any time you have a kicker who knows the difference between good and being elite, Will is an elite kicker."
2021 Crimson Tide Spring Practices
This is the fifth story in a series previewing Alabama’s spring football practices, which get under way March 19.
Wide receivers/Tight ends
