Georgia kicking competition not quite decided, an emphasis for next few weeks
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia has been consistent in many areas over the course of its success under Kirby Smart. One of those certainly has been special teams, specifically in the kicking game. Rodrigo Blankenship, who won the job in Smart’s first season, was a two-time All-SEC selection and won the Lou Groza Award in 2019. Jack Podlesny replaced him starting in 2020 and earned All-SEC recognition in 2022, taking home the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year award. Now, the Bulldogs are looking yet again to replace an excellent specialist with another one.
The contenders? Jared Zirkel and Peyton Woodring. One – Zirkel – is in his fourth season with the program. The other – Woodring – is in his first. Both were highly touted prospects coming out of high school, each ranking as top 10 kickers in the country. As a result, both are getting their chance to show that they’ve got what it takes to take the job.
“No outline at this time,” Kirby Smart said on Saturday after Georgia’s second scrimmage of the fall about deciding the kicking competition. “One was 3-for-3, one was 3-for-4 today. I thought they both kicked much better than what they did last week. The conditions were a little better today. They kicked better throughout the week. They’re both talented guys. I could make the case for both of them, either one of them to start right now.”
“I don’t know how they did to kicked off. I don’t know the numbers on that, I got to put a lot of thought into that and hang times and I don’t know what that was,” he continued. “They both had a really good fall camp and we don’t have to make a decision on that.”
According to DawgsHQ’s scrimmage scoop, it was Zirkel that was perfect and hit on at least two tries of over 40 yards including a 50-yarder while Woodring missed once from around 40 but also hit twice from beyond there. Still, sources – and Smart – say it’s too close to call.
Don’t be surprised to see both kickers get some action early in the season. Georgia hosts UT-Martin to open on September 2nd at Sanford Stadium before the Bulldogs welcome Ball State in Week Two. It’s not until the third game that they start SEC play with South Carolina coming to town, and a decision on whether it’s worth using a roster spot on both kickers for traveling doesn’t come until Week Five when Georgia goes to Auburn. That’s something Smart said is an emphasis for the next few weeks – honing in on special teams and travel rosters.
“This marks the last of what I consider to be camp. Moving forward, I think we’ll have four, or five maybe, practices over the next eight days. So, there’s more time for recovery, but not time for relaxing. If anything, we’ve got to secure some more spots, a couple spots are still up for grabs, then really hone in on who our special teams and travel roster guys are going to be,” Smart said. “We’re two weeks away from kickoff and we’re not where we need to be but we’re competing. I want to see some more improvement, but I did see improvement from scrimmage one to two.”
