Georgia Tech Kickers: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Last year, Georgia Tech kicker Scott Blair was much maligned for the poor job he did.  Coach Paul Johnson inherited little depth at that position, which meant that despite his poor performances, Blair continued to be the team's kicker in all situations.

This year, Scott Blair was the hero of the Clemson game, by recording three field goals, three extra points, and a touchdown pass for 18 of Tech's 30 points.

However, since that game, the Tech kicking game has been a complete mess. The longest field goal that's been made was a 36-yarder, but even that was during the Clemson game. And while the Clemson game is one of the few games where a field goal has truly mattered, not having a reliable field goal unit could have been the difference in the Florida State and Virginia Tech games. In both games Tech came out of the dust on top, but Tech shouldn't hope to keep getting lucky like that in close games.

While the field goal unit is bad, the punting unit is just plain ugly. 

There have been several high snaps, including one that Chandler Anderson booted out of the back of the end zone in Miami, which resulted in a safety and a penalty on the resulting kickoff. (It was a free kick, instead of a standard kick-off).

Tech ranks 108th in net yardage per punt. Tech's average punt of 40.4 yards is only slightly helped by an average return of 8 yards. Johnson continues to try to make adjustments to the kickers and the coverage, with little to show for it. 

Last week's game against Virginia Tech is the first where the coverage has been good.  The net return yards were an astounding minus-one. While the average punt was 34.9 yards, slightly longer than average, pairing that with the lack of return yards, it made for a much improved punting team, but now they need to continue operating at that level, because sliding back puts more pressure on the rest of the team, and the defense needs all the help it can get until they get their feet firmly under them this season.

A suggestion for Johnson and the special teams staff at Georgia Tech. Maybe you should take a page out of Texas Tech's playbook and hold a halftime contest for students to try field goals. Look how well it turned out for Matt Williams and the Red Raiders ... just a thought.