Will Reichard has dreamed of becoming a kicker in the National Football League since he was in the third grade.
On Sunday, Sept. 8, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Reichard’s dream will become reality when the former Hoover High kicker tees it up for the Minnesota Vikings in their 2024 NFL opener against the New York Giants.
The Vikings’ media relations department denied my request for a phone interview with Reichard because they said they wanted him to officially begin his NFL career and play a few games first.
I was more than a little miffed, considering Reichard, 23, is a married grown man and not some green incoming freshman from a small town in a college football program.
Besides, Reichard played for Nick Saban at Alabama in arguably the most high-profile and scrutinized college football program in the nation, and if that doesn’t make you media savvy, then nothing will.
So, I didn’t get to ask Reichard about his spectacular preseason. Perhaps no kicker in the league had a better one.
In his preseason pro debut, Reichard kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give the Vikings a 24-23 victory at home against the Las Vegas Raiders in their exhibition opener. He was mobbed by his teammates as Minnesota snapped its 10-game preseason losing streak. The Vikings had last won an exhibition game on Aug. 24, 2019, at home against Arizona.
The next week, Reichard kicked field goals of 41 and 38 yards as the Vikings posted a 27-12 victory at Cleveland against the Browns.
In their preseason finale at Philadelphia, Reichard kicked four field goals, including a 57-yarder late in the fourth quarter, as the Vikings beat the Eagles 26-3.
In three preseason games, Reichard made seven of eight field goal attempts (the only miss was a block) and eight of eight extra points.
Reichard’s brilliance shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering he finished his career at Alabama as the all-time collegiate leader in points scored with 547, 17 more than the former record holder, Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds.
Plus, Reichard was the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year in 2023, won three SEC championship rings (2020, 2021, 2023), and a national championship ring in 2020. He also established school records with 84 field goals made, 10 field goals from beyond 50 yards, and 295 career extra points made.
Saban once said no one had a more productive career, considering their role, than Reichard.
I also didn’t get to ask Reichard about the new kickoff rule that created such a buzz throughout the preseason. It’s the NFL’s attempt to generate some excitement for a part of the game that had become mostly a sprinting exercise on touchbacks, at least for the kicking team.
It would have been interesting to hear what Reichard thinks about it.
I also didn’t get a chance to ask Reichard about being a teammate of NFL veteran Nick Mullens, the former Spain Park quarterback who is slated to be the Vikings’ backup quarterback. How cool is it for two players from the Hoover school system to be on the same NFL team?
I also didn’t get to ask Reichard about what the last 20 months of his life have been like. He married Amelia Auchmuty, his high school sweetheart and former Hoover volleyball player, on Jan. 21, 2023.
Then, last fall, he returned to Alabama for his final college season and set the NCAA scoring record as he helped Alabama reach the college football playoffs before a 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan in the semifinals ended the Crimson Tide’s quest for a national championship. Reichard made field goals of 50 and 52 yards in the game.
In February this year, the city of Hoover named Reichard as an official hometown hero and presented him with a key to the city.
In April, the Vikings selected Reichard in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, making him the No. 203 overall pick.
“I always knew God had a plan for me, and this is something that I’ve been working toward for a really long time,” Reichard said in a news conference after the draft.
Reichard eventually signed a four-year contract worth $4.19 million, according to Spotrac.
And I didn’t get the chance to ask Reichard what his late dad, Gary Reichard, would have thought about him making it to the NFL. Gary Reichard died after a battle with pancreatic cancer at age 53 in March, 2016, when Will was 15.
Reichard once said his dad was his best friend and his first kicking coach. They spent the majority of Reichard’s childhood traveling across the nation together to various sporting events and kicking camps.
I believe Reichard would have had something poignant to say about it.
So, here’s wishing Reichard all the best as he embarks on his NFL career. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to do an interview at some point.
Rubin E. Grant is sports editor of the Over The Mountain Journal.
