Brett Thorson shares hilarious Tweet following fantastic punt
ATHENS, Ga. — Punts are often overlooked as important plays in a game, but there’s no denying that Brett Thorson‘s first quarter kick in Georgia’s win over Tennessee was game changing. The 22-year-old freshman from Melbourne, Australia boomed a 75-yard punt down to the UT 1, having it roll out of bounds and not even need the help of a diving Nyland Green, who was there to stop it if necessary. The Volunteers then had a should-have-been safety in the own end zone, were forced to punt and set up the Bulldogs for a one-play score to make it 14-3. Talk about flipping the field. That’s exactly what Thorson did.
“I told him he worked it like a boomerang from Australia,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart joked after the game. “It was sidewinding. I kept saying ‘Get out of bounds! Get out of bounds!’ It was a hell, a hell of a kick by him. That was a big momentum swing.”
Thorson has established himself as a little bit of a folk hero already in just a couple of months in Athens. First of all, he’s Australian. That’s self explanatory why folks would be intrigued by him. But at least from his Twitter, he seems to have a personality. After Georgia did not punt in its season-opening win over Oregon, Thorson tweeted out that the only explanation was that Stetson Bennett had to hate punters. After Saturday’s stellar kick, he followed up saying that he wanted to thank Bennett for finally letting him kick.
“Brett, he’s awesome. It’s not every day that you get to protect for an Australian punter,” Georgia offensive lineman Warren Ericson, who is the personal protector on the punt team, said. “He’s a super cool guy, he’s very down to Earth. He trusts me and I trust him. It’s a great relationship.”
“At first I honestly didn’t even think about it,” Ericson added on the punt. “I was sitting there like, ‘Oh he just bombed it, he just got another one on the one, another great punt,’ but then I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a 75 yard punt.’ As soon as I realized that, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty dang impressive.'”
On the season Thorson has punted 22 times for an average of 43.4 yards per kick. Thirteen of his kicks have been fair caught with 12 of those coming inside the 20-yard line including all five of his punts against Auburn with three coming inside the 10. Saturday’s punt was the longest by a Bulldog in 13 years and earned Thorson a spot inside the top-10 in program history.
Georiga goes on the road this week to Mississippi State to take on the Bulldogs led by Mike Leach. Kickoff time from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Georgia can clinch the SEC East and their spot in the SEC Championship Game for the fifth time in six season with a win.
