Villanova Football Recruiting
Villanova Commit Ryan Reavy Steps Into Position of Need
Villanova Football commit Ryan Reavy has experience at placekicker, punter and as a kickoff specialist, versatility that could help him take on an immediate role at a position group in need of an overhaul.
The Wildcats retained just one of four specialists from 2025, losing two to graduation and another to the transfer portal. Kicker Luke Myers, a rising redshirt sophomore who has yet to make his college debut, is the only specialist still rostered and, while Villanova will almost certainly add talent via the transfer portal, that means Reavy has a wide open door to stake his claim to a starting spot.
Switching Sports
Reavy, a 2026 recruit who attends Spring-Ford High School in nearby Ryersford, Pa., has less than two years of experience on the gridiron. That was more than enough for him to cement himself as a Division I prospect.
“I started kicking the July before my junior season, so I think I’ve got a lot of untapped potential. I’m just excited for what the future holds,” Reavy said. “I started playing soccer around three years old: I played up to MLS Next, the highest level [of youth soccer]. I really just had a fallout, I got bored, and a lot of my buddies were on the football team. They convinced me to come out for the team after tryouts, and I did that my junior year.”
Specialists go through a different recruiting process than players at other positions: rather than going to recruiting camps that a university hosts, they get exposure through kicking consortiums like Kohl’s and Chris Sailer. An injury held Reavy out of competition during the summer before his senior year, but he still managed to show enough for a four-star ranking.
Reavy began his football career as a kicker. When Spring-Ford quarterback Matt Zollers, a Mizzou commit who doubled as the Rams’ punter, went down with a season-ending injury, Reavy was there to pick up the slack, fleshing out his résumé in the process.
Spring-Ford to the Main Line
As he continues to adjust to the gridiron, Reavy said that while his biggest asset is his leg strength, he’s continuing to develop the touch he needs to take his game to the next level.
“I think at this point it’s probably my leg strength, but if you look at my highlights from this season you can see me pinning punts inside the 5-yard line and hitting kickoffs through the uprights,” Reavy said. “They [the Villanova coaching staff] like that I can do all three, so that’s one of the big things about me for them, that I would be able to compete at all three levels.”
Reavy said that Villanova began to recruit him heavily in January — he committed on Feb. 2 — with Wildcats’ defensive coordinator Ross Pennypacker playing the lead role. Pennypacker graduated from Spring-Ford in 2000 and is a member of the school’s Wall of Fame. Those local ties helped him and Reavy hit it off.
“I met with Coach Pennypacker at my high school. He’s actually an alumni of my high school, which is kinda cool. So he was a pretty nice guy, we connected really well,” Reavy said.
“Then later that day he came by my house and met with my parents. I obviously knew about Villanova since it’s a local school, and when I got the opportunity to play for them I wanted to go there… All the coaches were very nice, the campus, obviously, is very nice. Being able to go get a top academic education and play top level football, it’s very hard to do.”
