Little things can make a big difference in the kicking game.
A slight mishit of the ball or a minor slip-up in footwork can turn a made field goal into one that sails outside the uprights. On the highest level of college football, those miscues can be the difference in winning and losing.
It's those minute details that have Jack Podlesny's full attention this spring.
Podlesny connected on 22-of-27 field goal attempts last season. Kirby Smart noted the importance of having an experienced kicker returning.
"It’s wonderful to have a guy that’s kicked in a lot of big moments," Smart said. "He’s hit some big kicks in big moments. He’s a model of consistency in terms of the way he works about things."
While Podlesny had a good 2021 season, he's focused on improvements this spring.
"Little things as in my jab step, I shorten that out a little bit," Podlesny said. "I want to power through the ball a little bit more with more explosion off my hips. Placement, plant foot, all those."
The corrections to the jab step are just a matter of inches. But Podlesny said it makes a noticeable difference on the field.
Kickoff duties will also be added to Podlesny's plate this fall. He and Jared Zirkel are competing to replace Jake Camarda, who hit roughly 70% of his kicks for touchbacks last season.
"We had one of the most elite guys to probably ever play college football that’s gone," Smart said. "He’s going to have to step up because you guys just count that play like it doesn't count. For us, it probably hasn’t counted for the last two years because of the guy that we had. It’s going to count a whole lot more, so we need to step up and do that well."
Podlesny noted Camarda's natural ability to boot the ball high and far, but said both he and Zirkel are working to get better this spring. In a Georgia program that preaches competition day in and day out, the specialists are no different.
"The way I look at it is competition breeds success no matter who it is, no matter if it’s the first guy on the depth chart or the fourth guy," Podlesny said. "You can’t get comfortable with your job."
