Against Clemson on Saturday night in Charlotte, Georgia’s Jake Camarda was at it again. Coming on the heels of the 2020 season, when he became just the second punter in school history to earn first-team All-American honors, the Bulldog senior was one of his team’s top performers versus the Tigers. In Georgia’s 10-3 victory, Camarda averaged 43.4 yards per punt. More importantly, four of his five punts were downed inside Clemson’s 20-yard line.
For field position purposes, having a punter that can consistently pin the opposing offense deep in its own territory is extremely valuable. Yet, according to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, Camarda has received help when it comes to his knack of landing punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
“He doesn't do that alone. That ball doesn't stop and not roll in [the end zone] by itself,” Smart said of Camarda during his Monday press conference. “He has gunners and people out there. We practice that really hard.”
UGA started releasing annual statistics of punts downed inside the 20-yard line in 1987. Beginning that season to the present (as researched and discovered by UGASports), Camarda ranks second in career percentage of punts downed inside the 20 (39.3 percent) of the 13 Georgia punters with greater than 30 punt attempts.
Like his head coach, Camarda recognizes it’s honestly a team effort when pinning the opponent deep—and Georgia has steadily gotten better at accomplishing as much in recent years. Consider that in 2018, Camarda’s freshman season, only 10 of his 43 punts were downed inside the 20.
“I definitely remember back in my freshman year, working on [having punts downed inside the 20]. I’d like to think since my freshman year, we’ve gotten better at it,” Camarda said. “It’s a lot more of a team effort than just me. You've got to have good gunners to get down there.”
A gunner is a player on the punt or kickoff coverage team who runs down the field close to the sideline to ultimately reach the opposing returner—or, as often the case with Camarda, down the football inside the 20. Against Clemson, Georgia’s gunners on punt coverage were redshirt freshman Arian Smith and senior Ameer Speed. Of the four punts downed inside the 20, two were downed by Smith and two were fair-caught by Tiger punt returner Will Taylor.
“I look back at it as we were able to go out there [against Clemson] and make a difference,” Camarda said of the punting unit. “And as long as we’re making a difference, making it easier for our defense, that’s all I can hope for.”
Camarda would likely also hope for a repeat punting performance this Saturday when Georgia hosts UAB. Despite he and the punting unit proving to be difference-makers versus the Tigers—and against many previous opponents—the Bulldogs’ punter claims there is plenty they can improve upon heading into their game with the Blazers in Athens.
“There’s so much to improve on: continuing to focus on consistency, continuing to work toward having a consistent drop, consistent steps, making sure that we’re hitting certain spots on the field,” Camarda said. “There’s always going to be something to improve on. You’re never going to have a game when you’re perfect, and you look back and say, ‘There’s nothing I would want to change about it.’”
