Georgia football: Rodrigo Blankenship kicks his way to SEC special teamer of the week

Georgia football place kicker Rodrigo Blankenship’s perfect game earned him an SEC Special Teams Player of the Week honor.

Georgia football is on quite the hot streak to open the 2018 season. In two games, the Bulldogs are outscoring opponents 86-17. The top three running backs already have 393 yards and five touchdowns, while Jake Fromm has 351 yards and three scores. Plus, the defense has only allowed an average of 244 yards thus far.

But no one on the team is on the hot streak that Rodrigo Blankenship is on, and Monday, the SEC recognized that by awarding him their Special Teams Player of the Week award. The honor comes after a game where Blankenship made two 44-plus-yard field goals, five point after attempts, and kicked all seven kickoffs in or through the end zone for touchbacks.

Meaning in two games, Blankenship is perfect. Against Austin Peay, he converted his lone field goal, made all six extra points and booted all eight kickoffs for touchbacks. He’s yet to make a mistake in 2018. Currently, Blankenship leads the team with 20 points scored.

So what’s gotten into Blankenship? New rules are part of the reason. Now any fair catch on a kickoff past the 25-yard-line is considered a touchback. Last season, Blankenship excelled at kicking off in a way that allowed his coverage team to get to the returner quickly. As a result, Georgia’s opponents rarely began drives around the 25. Even though he wasn’t kicking as many touchbacks last year, he was still perfect as the results were often better than touchbacks.

But with the new rules, what’s the point in kicking the same way? When you have Blankenship’s leg strength, you might as well just boot the ball through the end zone and prevent the return man from even thinking of a kickoff return.