Brett Thorson looks back on first year in Athens ahead of second season
Georgia punter Brett Thorson is entering his second season with the program, but also his second season in the United States. See, the Melbourne, Australia native moved to the U.S. this time last year to join the Bulldogs in Athens. He hadn’t been to campus before, but knew the opportunities that were there for him joining a football program like Kirby Smart’s. A year in, things have gone about as well as he could have imagined.
“Yeah man, it’s been a whirlwind. It’s pretty crazy finding out how serious people take American football,” Thorson told DawgsHQ. “Obviously in Australia you’re pretty sheltered from the tailgating, the fans and all that sort of stuff. So you get here and experience it first hand, it’s definitely something you need to do in person. You can’t – obviously people tell you about what it’s like but once you get here, it’s crazy.”
Just a freshman this past season at Georgia, albeit an older one, Thorson stepped foot on campus and made an immediate impact. He punted 36 times for an average of 45.0 yards per punt. Only one went for a touchback while 18 were fair caught and 19 were downed inside the 20. Nine punts of Thorson’s went for 50 or more yards including his season-long 75 yarder, downed inside the one yard line against Tennessee. Georgia turned it into a near safety and a stop deep inside Volunteer territory before getting the ball back and scoring on the first play, a Stetson Bennett strike to Ladd McConkey for 37 yards and seven points.
“I think it was all about going out and doing your job,” Thorson said, trying to give credit to his teammates for a punt that didn’t need help from any others going out of bounds on its own. “Once you kick it, the rest is fate. The returner chose to let it bounce, he could have caught it and then it’s not as much of a perfect punt. It looks like a perfect punt because it’s got a roll and it got out of bounds, but if the returner can catch it, there’s all sorts of different things that can happen. You just do the things you can control which is catching the ball, kicking the ball as best as you possibly can to your field zone, and then the rest is up to the coverage.”
“The best part was I got to help the team and have an impact on the game,” Thorson said as he continued on about the best kick of his career.
Thorson one day hopes he can be the next ProKick prodigy to walk the halls of Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center for the NFL Scouting Combine. Rutgers kicker Adam Korsak did that this year. However for him, he’s got a little ways to go before that’s possible. He’s also hopeful he can take a few of his teammates to his homeland, immersing them into the culture like he has done himself in Athens.
“The people and the team, the boys have been so good to me,” Thorson said. “I guess I was thinking, I’m just a punter, not too many people will want to talk to me. But no, the boys are unreal and they’re quite funny. They’ve all got lots of questions about Australia. Some may be a little bit stupid, but it’s kind of funny.”
“I’m hoping to take him (Jack Podlesny) out there eventually. We’ll see how he handles Australia,” he continued. “Definitely lots to show him. Once we’ve got the time, I’ll definitely extend an invite. There’s a few other boys that want to come too: Nolan, Kenny, Brod wants to come. All the boys want to jump on the trip … Personally, I’d want to take them out to the farm, ride a few motorbikes, chase a few kangaroos and let it rip. It’d be fun.”
Thorson will have to wait a little bit longer for that trip though. The Bulldogs begin spring practice next week, Tuesday, March 14th and will go through 15 practice sessions in just over a month, culminating with the G-Day spring game on April 15th.
