Kickers: The best tandem in the nation?
(This is the 10th in a summer series looking at the Georgia football team by position.)
TODAY: KICKERS
- Returning “starters”: Redshirt junior punter Drew Butler, junior placekicker Blair Walsh, redshirt sophomore snapper Ty Frix. (Walsh also handles kickoffs. Butler is the holder on field goals and PATs.)
- Backups: Brandon Bogotay is the No. 2 placekicker, and Walsh is listed as the No. 2 punter. Walk-on Jamie Lindley is No. 3 on the depth chart at both placekicker and punter.
- Key fact: Butler won the Ray Guy Award as college football’s best punter last season, and Walsh was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top placekicker. Enough said?
- Key stats: Butler averaged 48.1 yards on 56 punts last season, marking the first time since 1958 that UGA had the nation’s leading punter. He had 19 punts downed inside the 20. . . . Walsh made 20 of 22 field goals last season, the second best percentage in UGA history, including 4 of 5 from 50-plus yards. He also was 42-for-42 on extra points.
- Key question: Will both pick up where they left off last season? If so, no worries.
- Recent developments: Georgia’s kickoff philosophy has changed, with the much-criticized directional kickoffs yielding to more of an emphasis on deep kickoffs. This is a development welcomed by Walsh, who had an SEC-leading 17 touchbacks on 75 kickoffs last season –- and also welcomed by Bulldog Nation. Click here for more on that. . . . Frix -– a walk-on from Calhoun who took over as snapper on punts, field goals and extra points last season -– was rewarded for a job well done by being placed on scholarship.
- Outlook: Seems sort of silly in retrospect, but there actually were some concerns about both Butler and Walsh a year ago at this time. No more. They proved to be the best punter-placekicker tandem in the nation last year -– and have two seasons remaining at UGA. The kicking game is in good hands.
- Your turn: What say you about the kicking game?
Please click on the position for previous entries in this series:
OFFENSE
DEFENSE
TOMORROW: Kickoff and punt returners.
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122 comments Add your comment
Tim Tucker
June 28th, 2010
6:04 pm
Sid: Tomorrow’s blog will be on the punt/kickoff returners. But, no, there hasn’t been a depth chart posted on punt returners. All of the names you mentioned got looks in the role during the spring.
Uga34
June 28th, 2010
6:23 pm
Yep I think that if they pick up where they left off both should win awards. It’s gonna be a good year if we can get some chemistry goin with team. Go dawgs
Coach Hewitt..
June 28th, 2010
7:36 pm
Orlando Sentinel ranks UGA #64….
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/spo…4-georgia.html
Check it out…my fav comment…
Georgia at #64?
There are 65 BCS conference teams. There are 21 BCS teams ranked behind Georgia. So, Jeremy Fowler is saying there are twenty (20!) non-BCS schools that are better, right now, than Georgia?
If I give you TCU, Utah, Boise State, Notre Dame and BYU… where the hell are the other 15 teams going to come from?
From extrapolation:
Nevada, Fresno State, Idaho, Troy, Middle Tennessee State, Air Force, Southern Miss, Houston, SMU, Navy, Army, Ohio, Temple, UCF, and Northern Illinois.
So, according to Jeremy Fowler, Georgia is the 5th best team in the Mountain West, the WAC, and/or Conference USA, the 3rd best team in the Sun Belt, worse than all three service academies and Notre Dame, and the 4th best team in the MAC.
That’s borderline retarded. Georgia would be double-digit favorites against all of those teams.
Coach Hewitt..
June 28th, 2010
7:39 pm
OH YEA… AND ANOTHER THING….
WHO THE HEll are you Jeremy Fowler???? If your most notable accomplishment in sports journalism thus far is managing not to pizz your pants in front of cameras while being b!%$#made by Urban Meyer, I’m not sure there’s much reason for me to care about your preseason predictions.
SILLY UGA FANS
June 28th, 2010
7:58 pm
Yeah I was happy for Durant Brooks when he won the Ray Guy Award, but the sad part was he won just how UGA’s kicker did. A bad offense that gave him plenty of kicks for the season.
Roll_Tide2010!
June 28th, 2010
7:58 pm
Who cares about the kickers??? Is this all UGA has to brag about now??? Unless Walsh can kick 90 yard FG’s, UGA is still going to be ranked in the cellar in the SEC East. Also,Butler gets a lot of exposure due to the fact that the Dawgs rarely get a first down.
AltamahaDawg
June 28th, 2010
7:59 pm
Well look at this way: we will overachieve the hell out of 64th.
AltamahaDawg
June 28th, 2010
8:11 pm
Roll_Tide2010, hmm. yea. That nickname is very fitting I would guess. Hope you didn’t trip over the others.
CamdenMark
June 28th, 2010
8:28 pm
Good link coach,I think the Sentinel got what they wanted,attention.
Don’t think I’ve ever read a more idiotic piece on FB in my life.Fowler wrote the thing but that Andrea whatsername compiled the rankings.
MVP
June 28th, 2010
8:58 pm
Choke !! The offical drink of the Georgia Bulldawgs!!!
dawgfan
June 28th, 2010
9:26 pm
UGA at #64? You’d think that winning the ACC would count for something. I guess not.
tenn.DAWG
June 28th, 2010
9:36 pm
YES ! ! !
Sid
June 28th, 2010
9:55 pm
Hi Tim-
Thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to your article on tomorrow’s blog.
Georgia released a depth chart for nearly every other position, so I thought they’d be willing to share where we are after Spring to keep the blogoshpere talking up Georgia for a few weeks.
uga bill
June 28th, 2010
10:18 pm
Choke is a very indescriminant drink ! Lots of teams will get their taste !!!
Real Tech Engineer
June 28th, 2010
11:17 pm
With those great kickers, Ga should go far in 2010!!! The dawgs will be unbeatable with those kickers who can kick the ball a long way! They should win every game easy when those kickers kick the ball like no other! Kicking will win it all for the mighty dogs!!!!
bama wins over UGA since 2001
June 28th, 2010
11:31 pm
1, one, uno, , bama sec championships since 2000 one , Uga 2 , roll over tide,
AltamahaDawg
June 29th, 2010
12:13 am
I don’t know about “it all”, but it’s enough to beat tech as usual.
Jump Men
June 29th, 2010
2:27 am
Alabama did NOT lead the SEC in any special teams area:
punting, field goals, kick-offs, kick return, punt return, opposing punt return, opposing kick return, punt/kick blocks
It’s not an area CMR should pay much attention to.
Florida did lead the SEC in punt/kick blocks both times Meyer won a National Championship. So if there is one area to spend practice on, that might be worth it.
The focus needs to be on areas that Florida & Bama are excellent at like:
scoring margin
turnover margin
defense scoring points allowed
BuLLdawg
June 29th, 2010
4:27 am
Silly.
That is not a question Tim Tucker. Why put question mark at end of title to your blog today, son ?
Chris Boggs, you have not written a blog since June 11. You should be fired after 18 days.
SEC has won the College World Series seven (7) times since The SEC expanded to 12 teams in 1990, including the reigning College World Series Champions LSU and including Georgia.
Georgia tek has been the dead last worst team in America in the NCAA tournament, including again this year LOSING.
ACC has Weak Forest who 2 years after the ACC was formed in 1953, Weak Forest won the CWS in 1955.
55 years in a row, and counting now, the ACC has NOT won the College World Series.
Rosenblatt stadium closes after this season. The ACC won 1 time.
South Carolina, who beat UCLA last night, beat Clemson and knocked Clemson out of the CWS this year. It is what The SEC does to the ACC.
You make all this noise about BASEBALL in the ACC and at Georgia tek, but the facts are that The Georgia Bulldogs OWN Georgia tek in baseball and especially in the NCAA Tournament and College World Series.
Georgia has been to 6 College World Series and won 1. Georgia tek has been to only 3 CWS and has never won.
South Carolina of The SEC beat UCLA last night 7-1.
This runs South Carolina’s CWS record to 21-17 with a 1-game lead in the Best of 3 CWS Finals.
Clemson runs its CWS record to 12-24, typical for ACC teams.
Georgia tek plays CUPCAKES in the ACC, then when NCAA Tournament time rolls around, it is The SEC who wins The College World Series while Georgia tek LOSES their NCAA Tournament Games. You run up your record playing in the ACC and then FLOP ON YOUR COLLECTIVE FACES.
In only 3 years in the College World Series Georgia tek has won 4 games total.
Georgia has won 10 games in the College World Series in 6 appearances.
SEC owns ACC in Baseball.
SEC owns ACC in NCAA Baseball Tournament
SEC owns ACC in College World Series.
SEC owns ACC in National Championships Baseball.
UGA owns Georgia tek in Baseball.
UGA owns Georgia tek in NCAA Baseball Tournament.
UGA owns Georgia tek in College World Series.
Only 10 teams in all of baseball have LOST more NCAA Tournament Games than Georgia tek’s 53 LOSSES.
195-148-2 Georgia Bulldogs’ Baseball record beating up Georgia tek.
NCAA Baseball Tournament Record UGA is .638 win % tek only .535 win %
orlando Dawg
June 29th, 2010
8:11 am
I live here in Orlando, where most of the people get their “sports” information from this two bit, second rate Orlando Sentinel. Fowler is counting back from the worse to the first teams in division I, starting at 120 and working up. My point being, Fowler ranking UGA 64th WORSE team in the country. I wish to counter that by figuring out of the 66 teams in the BCS conferences, UGA is certainly better than 50 – 55 of the teams in BCS conferences and certainly alot better than any independent teams, and non BCS conference teams ranked or unranked.
Someone on this blog mentioned the Sentinel is writing this bull, to garner attention. I would agree. There isn’t any truth to any of this. Newspapers are going out of business alot these days. Probably due to a loss of integrity and extreme bias from morons like Fowler. Living here in Orlando, Fl, I decided long ago to gather my informations from other sources and not relay on the Sentinel for accuracy.
In my humble opinion UGA is alot better than what the Sentinel is giving them credit for. UGA isn’t quite the best….. yet, but certainly better than the most of the other 65 BCS conferences teams, and greater than the other 54 non BCS conference teams or independents.
GO DAWGS…. SIC ‘Em
Bama Dawg
June 29th, 2010
10:38 am
Jeff – According to the reports at the UGA, Alabama, and Tenn camps, the kid from Calhoun was the best kicker at each camp. Chris Sailer Kicking has him the #1 kicking prospect class of 2012 and the only 5 star prospect for 2012 class. My understanding is at the UGA camp no one kicked many balls anyway… UGA needs to get there camps better organized.
Bride of Chucky Knapp
July 9th, 2010
9:24 pm
I’m worried about our kicking. It sounds like the Vols have been working hard on their kicking of off duty police officers and this will surely translate to the field. I just hope we can stay sharp and lead the division.