UGASports.com's Top Four Bulldog Returners

A year ago, we delivered our “Counting the Days” series (an example with 19 days remaining until the season kicks off). This summer, we explore a topic that has been debated on The Dawgvent for years and years. Twice a week leading up to the season opener, we will post the UGA’s Mount Rushmore of… series, whereby we each present our opinion of the top four Bulldogs representing each positional unit. Whether statistics, big plays, championships won, and/or something else, we have our reasons why these quartets of Bulldogs have been chosen.

Do you agree with our Mount Rushmore of UGA Returners? Who would you put on your list?

Dave McMahon—Twitter @dave_mc_stats

Brandon Boykin (2008-11): Brandon Boykin was a very good defender and offensive player, but he was an outstanding returner. On his second kickoff return as a Bulldog, he received a South Carolina kick at his goal line and was then bumped a little a few yards out. But, Boykin wasn’t phased as he kept running for a 100-yard touchdown. During that same 2009 season, he added another 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at Tennessee and then added an 81-yard return for a score against Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl. The following season against Kentucky, Boykin ran another kick back for 100 yards. Finally, in his last game as a Dawg, he returned a punt 92 yards for a score against Michigan State in the Outback Bowl. Of course, the 100-yard kickoff returns were record-tying, but the 92-yard punt return is tied for the second-longest in school history, as well. Boykin’s three kickoff returns for touchdowns in a season and four in a career are both tied for tops in SEC history. His 2,663 career kickoff return yards are ranked third all time in conference history. For his Georgia career, Boykin averaged 24.2 yards on 110 kickoff returns and 12.9 yards on 14 punt returns. In 2011, he was the recipient of the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player.

Damien Gary (2000-03): I was thinking about selecting Isaiah McKenzie here, but while he was very exciting and made some big plays, he made a mistake here and there as well. The player who I thought had very similar moves prior to “The Human Joystick” was Damien Gary, who holds the school career records for most punt returns (114) and most punt return yards (1,253). The yardage ranks as the fifth-most all time in the SEC. Gary scored three touchdowns on returns (one kickoff and two via punts). The first of his two touchdowns on punt returns was rather memorable. In Knoxville in 2001, the Dawgs trailed Tennessee 14-3 early in the second quarter, when Gary received a punt, darted, made a small move, broke a tackle and then scored from 72 yards out, not including his gain on a celebratory flip (and penalty flag). But, the Bulldogs were back in the game. A few more scores and a hobnail boot, broken nose and crushed face later, and Georgia had defeated the Volunteers, 26-24.

Jake Scott (1967-68): My next two picks are players that I have chosen before for other Mount Rushmore lists—the first being Jake Scott, who was listed with the top safeties and roverbacks. Deserving to be on this list as well, the future Super Bowl MVP returned 35 punts—the second-most in UGA history for a season—for 440 yards—the fourth-most—including a touchdown in 1968. Like Damien Gary, Scott’s biggest return resulted in Knoxville. Early in the contest at Tennessee in 1968, he had a critical interception before returning a punt 90 yards (officially) while avoiding multiple obstacles for a touchdown. Scott’s 90-yarder is tied for the fourth-longest punt return in school history. Notably, he was also pretty good returning kickoffs that season, averaging over 23 yards on 11 returns.

Scott Woerner (1977-80): My other two-time pick is Scott Woerner, “the Returner,” who was originally on my cornerback list. Woerner led the Dawgs in punt returns for all four of his seasons, and also led the nation in the same category as a senior in 1980. That season, he had 31 punt returns for 488 yards, including a touchdown against Clemson, helping Georgia “roll the dice” and win 20-16 en route to a perfect season and a national championship. Woerner’s 488 yards on punt returns are a single-season team record, while his 1,077 career yards are second-most of all time. In 1977 and 1980, he also led the Dawgs in kickoff returns.

Patrick Garbin—Twitter @PatrickGarbin

Jimmy Campagna (1951-1954): In the second quarter of the 1952 season opener at Vanderbilt, Georgia’s Conrad Mansera fielded a Commodore punt and handed it to teammate Jimmy Campagna at his own goal line. Returning only his second punt of his Bulldog career, the 170-pound Campagna darted towards the sideline and then simply outraced would-be tacklers for a 100-yard touchdown. It would be another 14 years before there was another 100-yard punt return in college football and, still today, it’s one of only 12 accomplished in NCAA history. Eight games later, Campagna returned a punt for a 96-yard touchdown against Auburn. And, in between, versus Alabama in Birmingham, he ran back a kickoff for a score. At Miami in the season finale, Campagna returned his third punt for a touchdown, but the 80-yard score was called back because of a clipping penalty. Following an extraordinary sophomore campaign in which he returned 18 combined kickoffs and punts, three resulting in touchdowns, for a 25.3 average, Campagna became the first Bulldog ever to lead the team in annual kickoff returns, punt returns, and interception return yardage—and, it’s occurred only once since (Jake Scott in 1968). Campagna’s career 18.0-yard punt return average is a school record for those with at least a dozen returns; his 455 kickoff return yards for a career ranked among the school’s best for a couple of decades.

Jake Scott (1967-1968): Speaking of Jake Scott, his 455 punt return yards in 1968 were the second-most in the nation; his 315 interception return yards for a career remain a Georgia record; and, the lone season he was inserted to return kickoffs, he bested teammate and return-extraordinaire Kent Lawrence with better than a 23-yard average. Besides the 90-yard punt return for a score Dave spoke of, Scott totaled three other returns for touchdowns—all three on interceptions: a 32-yarder versus Florida in 1967, and two at Kentucky in 1968 covering 33 and 35 yards. Despite playing for only two seasons at Georgia, and appearing in just 19 games, Scott’s four returns for touchdowns (whether by punt, kickoff, interception, and/or fumble) are tied for the third-most in school history during the modern era (i.e., since the beginning of WW II):

Scott Woerner (1977-1980): First off, anyone nicknamed “the Returner” surely should be included amongst the school’s top, well, returners. And, the nickname certainly was fitting for Scott Woerner. In his four seasons at Georgia, four times he led the team in annual punt returns, three times in interception return yardage, and twice in kickoff returns. To date, 11 times a Georgia player has finished in the nation’s top 10 in punt returns, and Woerner is the lone Bulldog to do so more than once, ranking eighth in 1978 and first in 1980. As a true freshman in 1977, he returned 22 kickoffs for 546 yards—the second-most in UGA history prior to the last decade—for a 24.8-yard average, which ranked as the second-best in the SEC that season, 14th in the NCAA. Woerner’s returns for touchdowns in reverse order consisted of his critical punt return for a score as a senior in 1980 against Clemson, a 50-yard interception the year before only 89 seconds into the season opener versus Wake Forest, and a memorable 72-yard punt return for a score against Georgia Tech in 1978 (whereby Larry Munson’s call of the return is epic, that of another broadcasting legend, Al Michaels, is not too shabby itself):

Isaiah McKenzie (2014-2016): In just his third game as a Bulldog, Isaiah McKenzie ran back a punt 52 yards for a touchdown against Troy in 2014. Six games later at Kentucky, he returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score, becoming the first Bulldog since 1966 (Kent Lawrence) to run back both a punt and kickoff for touchdowns the same season. Later returning a punt 59 yards for a touchdown against the Wildcats, McKenzie became the first Bulldog in the modern era to return both a punt and kickoff for a score in the same game. That season, he averaged 12.1 yards per punt return, which ranked seventh in the FBS, and signifies only the second time since 1991 a Georgia player has finished in the nation’s top 10 in punt or kickoff returns. McKenzie also averaged 28.1 yards per kickoff return in 2014, which would have ranked 10th in the nation if he had totaled a few more returns to qualify for the NCAA’s rankings. Averaging 10.7 yards on 23 punt returns last season, including one in which he brought back for a score, McKenzie became the first Georgia player to lead the team in punt returns while averaging at least 10 yards per return for three consecutive seasons, and return at least one punt for a score three straight years. In three seasons, his six career returns for touchdowns—five via punt, one kickoff—are a Bulldog record.

In a few days, we will reveal our next in the UGA’s Mount Rushmore of… series. Until then, again, do you agree with UGASports.com’s list? Who would you put on your Mount Rushmore of UGA Returners?

UGASports.com's Previous UGA Mount Rushmores:

Quarterbacks

Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers

Tight Ends

Inside Linebackers

Wide Receivers

Safeties/Rovers

Placekickers

Cornerbacks

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

Assistant Coaches

Punters