Will Reichard is on to his next challenge. The former Alabama kicker is at the Senior Bowl, fresh off a five-year college career where he totally changed the narrative surrounding the position he played.

The Alabama kicker was a meme. Now one of them is major college football’s all-time points leader.

“I don’t want to say that because I don’t want to be disrespectful to anyone that kicked at Alabama before me,” Reichard said when asked Wednesday about the stigma his position held until recently. “For me at Alabama, I just wanted to do the best I could to be the best I could be and to help our team win and try to work hard every day to reach my potential.”

Reichard will serve as the American team’s kicker on Saturday in the Senior Bowl. He could have been in Mobile last season, but instead opted to return for the final season afforded to him by the one-time COVID-19 waiver.

The Hoover native wanted to get better at kicking off before he made a go of it in the NFL. He felt that in 2022, as the season progressed and the weather got colder, he wasn’t hitting the amount of touchbacks he wanted.

Mission accomplished, at least in Reichard’s eyes.

“I thought I could improve and I thought this year I’ve hit some of my biggest balls on kickoffs that I’ve hit in my career,” he said. “So I was definitely pleased.”

Reichard was voted as the SEC’s special teams player of the year by the league’s coaches, and broke the NCAA’s all-time scoring record during the 2023 campaign, hitting 22 of his 25 field goal attempts. He also racked up more touchbacks (52) than he had in 2022 (47), on less attempts than he had that season.

He was turning heads throughout the week of practice leading up to the Senior Bowl. Reichard made at least one kick from 60 yards on Tuesday.

Reichard explained his goal for Senior Bowl week on Wednesday.

“At the end of the day we’re snapping, trying to kick the ball through the uprights,” Reichard said. “So there’s not that much that you’re really trying to learn for the most part, for a kicker. Just because you’re still trying to kick the ball through the uprights, so you’re just trying to showcase your talent.”

Before the game, Reichard was named the American team’s top specialist in the week-of-practice awards. He and his American teammates, including fellow Alabama invitees Justin Eboigbe and Chris Braswell, will face off with the National team at 12 p.m. CT Saturday in Mobile.

The Senior Bowl will be aired on the NFL Network.