Alabama Football replaces Will Reichard with Groza Award Winner

The Alabama Football team faced a daunting task in replacing Will Reichard who was Mr. Reliable during his time at Alabama becoming the all-time leading scorer in College Football history. The Tide were counting on Connor Talty to take the reigns, however, a rough A-Day from the group of kickers led to Alabama Football exploring its options in the transfer portal.

If Kalen DeBoer and the coaching staff were going to add a kicker it was always going to be one they felt could be reliable as a starter in 2024 rather than a depth kicker. Kalen DeBoer went out and landed the nation's best kicker and the only kicker with a claim to being better than Will Reichard in Graham Nicholson.

Nicholson went 35-37 on extra points in 2023 while going 27-28 on field goal attempts on his way to winning the Groza Award given to the nation's top kicker. Nicholson was a perfect 17-17 on kicks of 39 or fewer yards while going 10-11 on kicks over 40 yards with a career-long of 52 yards.

The Alabama Football team now enters the 2024 season with arguably the nation's top kicker and punter in the tandem of Nicholson and James Burnip. Nicholson will likely either compete against Talty in summer practices or we'll see Talty transfer to a school he can start at right away.

Alabama Football: Improving around the edges

Heading into this spring transfer portal window, the Tide's roster was in a solid place with no massive needs to fill. The team regained Kadyn Proctor as expected filling out the offensive line meaning the team truly had no glaring need.

The addition of Nicholson makes the Tide better overall while eliminating what was a concern heading into 2024. If the Tide make any further moves in the transfer portal they likely won't be massive splash moves but, rather adding depth players or reliable options in the secondary.