Georgia football: The overlooked signee of the early signing period

NEW ORLEANS - JANUARY 01: Brandon Coutu
NEW ORLEANS - JANUARY 01: Brandon Coutu /
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Georgia football brought in possibly the best group of high school talent during the early signing period this past week with six 5-star players.

What a week it has been for Georgia football. We all expected a good day Wednesday for the beginning of the early signing period. But who knew that the Bulldogs would end the week by signing six 5-star football players and 12 4-star players?

While everyone is talking about Justin Fields, the running backs, defensive players and all of those offensive linemen, there is one signee that no one is talking about; kicker Jake Camarda. He’s a three-star kicker, but every kicker is at least a three-star according to 247 Sports. The Norcross High School senior is the no. 6 kicker in the country.

It’s understandable. With all of those skill players and hosses on the offensive line, who wants to talk about a kicker? Especially when the Dawgs already have a good one in Rodrigo Blankenship.

Well there are a few reasons actually. The obvious is that Georgia will likely have some competition for punter. Cameron Nizialek and Brice Ramsey are leaving so Georgia has work to do in finding a punter for next season.

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As the no. 6 kicker in the nation, Camarda obviously has a strong leg. It will take some developing to get him into becoming a good punter if that’s the route Georgia goes.

The other reason is that it presents another way that Georgia is diverging from Mark Richt philosophies. In all 15 years under Richt, Georgia never replaced an outgoing place kicker (or punter for that matter) with one already on the roster.

After Billy Bennett left UGA in 2003, freshman Andy Bailey replaced him in 2004. Fellow freshman Brandon Coutu replaced him at the end of the year and even began the season as kickoff specialist. Then in 2008, freshman Blair Walsh took over for the outgoing Coutu. Marshall Morgan did the same for Walsh in 2012.

Morgan exhausted his eligibility in 2015 and William Ham started the 2016 season as Georgia’s place kicker before Rodrigo Blankenship took the job. While it’s great to have constant players at any position. I mean, who doesn’t love four-year starters? But constantly having to restart at kicker is not ideal.

Bailey struggled in 2004, as did Walsh in 2008, Morgan in 2012, and Ham/Blankenship last season. But if Camarda pans out, then Georgia won’t have to replace Blankenship with a freshman in 2020. Instead, Camarda, with two years on campus, can take over as a junior or maybe even a redshirt sophomore.

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Sure, that all means nothing for the immediate future. Camarda likely isn’t going to do anything for the Bulldogs in 2018 or even 2019. But the importance of not having to worry about who will replace Blankenship in 2020 cannot by overstated. And when that day comes, the Bulldog Nation may view Jake Camarda as one of the biggest signees of the 2018 recruiting class.