Georgia’s Jake Camarda enters the 2020 campaign vying for an even bigger role than he’s had through two seasons as a member of the Bulldogs.
Camarda, who currently has the second-highest career punting average in school history (45.1), is also competing for Georgia’s place-kicking role, previously held by the seemingly irreplaceable Rodrigo Blankenship. Blankenship, whose 440 career points scored are a program-high, and second-most in SEC history, became in 2019 the first Bulldog to receive the Lou Groza Award as the top placekicker in college football.
“I’ve done a little bit of placekicking [this fall camp]. I’ve kicked a few field goals here and there,” said Camarda, who is one of just five Georgia returnees to have started both the 2018 and 2019 SEC title games. “And I think I’m competing for the job to be the guy (team’s primary placekicker). But, at the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever Coach [Kirby] Smart wants me to do—whatever he thinks is best for the team.”
Whether the competition Camarda is facing at placekicker is stiff is uncertain at this point; however, there clearly is an abundance of contenders competing for the top spot. Besides the 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior, other contenders include Jared Zirkel, a three-star blueshirt freshman, junior Brooks Buce, who has kicked off a combined six times the last two seasons, and redshirt sophomore Jack Podlesny. In addition, according to the most updated team roster, there are six non-roster walk-ons who are capable of placekicking.
On whether it has been difficult thus far in fall camp handling both roles as a punter and placekicker, Camarda says not so much, particularly since he did juggle both just a few years ago.
“I wouldn’t say it's extremely difficult [doing both]. I mean, I did it in high school,” Camarda said. “It was never something I had an issue with. So it’s not too crazy having to juggle the two. For me, it’s kind of like being back in high school.”
As a senior at Norcross High School in 2017, Camarda missed as many field goals (seven) as he made; still, four of his seven made field goals were from 50-plus yards out. Coming out of Norcross, Camarda was not only ranked by Kohl’s Kicking Camp as its No. 1 punter, but the No. 4 placekicker, as well.
If Camarda was to fill Georgia’s punting and placekicking roles, it would be rather significant from a historical viewpoint. Granted, there have been a few occasions in history when a Bulldog player punted and placekicked in the same game, including in 1996, when Dax Langley actually began the season as both the team’s primary punter and placekicker (Langley was demoted to No. 2 placekicker by the third game that season.).
Nonetheless, since the late 1950s—or, when Georgia first featured a player whose primary position was placekicker/punter—there has not been a Bulldog to start at both positions for any given season.
Whether Camarda will be Georgia’s first player to fill both roles has yet to be determined. But whoever emerges as the Bulldogs’ top placekicker, the team’s current No. 1 punter is confident, and not worried in the least, that the replacement for the record-breaking Blankenship will do just fine.
“Everybody (all the placekickers) has been looking pretty good, competing and kicking the ball well,” Camarda said. “Georgia is going to be in good hands field-goal wise. I’m not worried about that at all.”
