Georgia football has one of the best, if not the best kicker in the country with Rodrigo Blankenship. 2019 could be the year that the rest of the college football world agrees.
Georgia football has one of the most impressive kickers in the country, and he has yet to earn any recognition.
Rodrigo Blankenship is heading into his final season at Georgia and has already broken multiple records and has the opportunity to break more in 2019.
According to his Georgia Dogs bio, Blankenship was on the 2018 Associated Press and Coaches All-SEC 2nd Team. Currently, he is on the Athlon Sports Preseason All-America second team and the preseason All-SEC First Team Special Teams by the media.
Blankenship is also on the Lou Groza Award watch list and the Wuerffel Trophy watch list.
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When he began at Georgia, some questions were surrounding him and if he would live up to the rich history of talented kickers to come through Georgia.
In 2016, he made 13-of-14 field goals with a long of 49 yards. However, where he struggled was his kickoffs. Blankenship kicked off 55 times with only 20 of those being touchbacks.
One of the biggest things a kicker can do to help a team out is pushing opponents as deep into their territory as they can.
Then in his sophomore year, Blankenship exploded onto the scene. After working during the offseason with then grad assistant coach Kevin Butler, he completely transformed his game.
In 2017, he made 15-of-20 field goals, which is less than what he did in his first season, but at the same time, the Dawgs didn’t need him to kick a ton of field goals.
The best stat is seeing that he had 94 kickoffs, and 67 of them were touchbacks. So, Blankenship, had 71 percent of his kicks go into the endzone.
Last season he mimicked the success he found on the field and added onto it.
Blankenship made 14-of-19 field goals. He also had 96 kickoffs with 82 of them being touchbacks, giving him an 85.4 percent touchback average.
So in only one year, he increased his touchback average by 14.
Through all three seasons, he has made 53-of-64 field goals with a long of 55 yards. That 55-yarder came against Oklahoma in the 2018 Rose Bowl. Blankenship has 245 kickoffs with 169 of them going for a touchback.
He broke Butler’s touchback record in 2017 and then demolished his and Butler’s record last season. Blankenship could end up being the top three on the record list in regards to touchbacks.
That record isn’t the only one he broke as he has claimed the top spot in three different records, but has the opportunity to capitalize on many more this season.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see Blankenship take over the kicking record books for Georgia and for him to win at least the Lou Groza Award.
Blankenship continues to prove that he has ice in his veins and that he is one of the best kickers ever to wear the red and black. Georgia needs him to continue that in the 2019 season and allow him to be the guy when needed.
2019 is the year for him to go out, have fun and demolish the record book, and I fully expect him to do just that.