Georgia football: Report card for tremendous win over the Vols

Georgia football special teams: A

Georgia football wasn’t perfect on special teams, but they did an excellent job against the Vols. Their performance produced an A grade because the kickers did a fantastic job, but the return situation could have been cleaner. Not to mention, the Dawgs could have contained Tennessee’s return man better.

Field goal kicker Jack Podlesny went 2-for-2 on the day as he made a 40-yarder and 26-yarder against the Vols. He was also perfect on his PATs, going 5-of-5. His first field goal was crucial because it tied the Vols at 10-10, so it was a must-make situation, and he did his job.

Podlesny has had an up and down season, but his confidence seems to be growing in the last couple of weeks. Georgia can trust this guy when it matters and forget about those misses early on in the year.

He is 16-of-20 on the year, making 80% of his kicks, and while fans remember those misses, Podlesny is still the kicker who made the game-winner over Cincy last season and can still do that for the Dawgs.

His counterpart Jake Camarda had an excellent day handling the punting and kickoff duties. Camarda had five punts on the day, averaging 50.8 yards a kick with a long one of 62 yards which landed inside the 20-yard line.

He is the best punter in the country, but because he rarely has to punt the ball, Camarda gets overlooked. On kickoffs, Camarda had eight on the game, with five of them resulting in touchbacks.

Camarda is a secret weapon for the Dawgs as he can easily flip the field, which is crucial for an elite defense because the deeper an offense is in their territory, the easier it is to stop them.

Kearis Jackson and Zamir White handled the return duties, and they played smart. Jackson had one punt return for five yards and one kickoff return for 18 yards. He did his part so the Vols wouldn’t pin them deep. White had one kickoff return for 17 yards, and it was solid.

However, the Dawgs gave up too many yards to Velus Jones Jr., who had four punt returns for 54 yards. He had an extended return of 24-yards, and that one was almost ugly. The Dawgs did enough to keep him contained, but they must find a way to tackle better on special teams.

Georgia football put together a dominant performance that puts them at 10-0 on the season. Each week they get another test, and in Week 11, the Dawgs aced their exams and showed who the best SEC East team is.