Win against UNC was a good first step. Played a lot of young men that will be on campus for at least two years, maybe three. That along with the "new mindset" coming from Smart and Company.
Not to be a "negative nelly", do have some concerns. Would wager that Kirby Smart does too.
I watched this video while Rodrigo Blankenship was still in high school. What happened, especially the kickoffs? Watching other games, seems most kickers in college, D1 level more often than not kick the ball through or deep into the endzone.
There are other concerns, but overall I would agree with ogredawg, overall a "B".
William Ham, appears to me that he has as "hitch in his gitty-up. I have no doubts that we will have more than one game that is going to require a solid field goal kicker.
Lots of plusses, do have to address the minuses . . . . Smart will do that.
Here is what Kirby Smart said prior to our first game.
But what about field goal kicker? Smart said they would try to “find out what we have here” during spring practice. Rodrigo Blankenship and William Ham are two who could compete for it. Smart said the staff would also still look for other candidates, whether it be a transfer or a preferred walk-on.
“We’re gonna try to get the best kickers we can, to make that a competitive environment, so we can improve the kicking game, and essentially find the guy that can be the field goal kicker for us,” Smart said. “Because it’s a little scary coming in, even for Shane, saying: Wait a second, we don’t have a punter, we don’t have a returning snapper that started, and we don’t have a field goal kicker. That’s a little overwhelming. But we didn’t want to commit a scholarship to a kicker as of now. We’ll see how that goes.”
SEC teams that usually make major bowls or win championships have to have a solid kicking/punting game. Been that way for years in the SEC.
Good win against a good team.
Go Dawgs. Kirby Smart is aware, for sure.
