Jack Podlesny has head in right space for a mentally taxing job as Georgia kicker

There may be nothing more bittersweet in football than watching your kicker nail a field goal. While it’s never a bad thing to put points on the board, you’re always leaving a potential touchdown on the field, especially when you make it to the red zone. That’s been the case several times this season for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Currently, kicker Jack Podlesny is on pace to make 24 field goals this season, which would be the fourth most in a season in Bulldog history. While Kirby Smart is certainly satisfied with Podlesny’s performance so far this season, he wishes the St. Simon’s native would spend more time on the sideline during red zone situations.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you, he’s been so consistent,” Smart said. “Hate that we have had to kick as many as we have. That’s been the Achilles heel for our offense. You may not punt, but you kick a lot of field goals, and that’s not fun either. It’s fun for Pod, but it’s not fun for the rest of us. That’s one of the areas that we really targeted to get better at coming off of last year. It’s really great to have Pod. The reliability and consistency that he’s played with has been great. The hope is you don’t have to rely on him all the time to score.”

Coming into today’s game against Missouri, Podlesny is second in Georgia history for career field goal percentage at 81.4%. While his consistency so far has pleased the Bulldog fanbase and coaching staff, Podlesny knows that he has to take his job one kick at a time.

“I don’t think it’s taken for granted at all,” Podlesny claimed. “You know, I practice it every day. I think every head coach is unhappy when he’s gotta settle for a field goal and not a touchdown, but at the end of the day, I’m just trying to walk out there and be consistent and make the points.”

There’s no position in football remotely similar to that of a starting kicker. Each time the kicker’s cleats touch the field, there are points at stake. Podlesny understands this pressure better than anyone, but he finds tranquility in knowing who he plays the game for.

“For me, it probably comes from first of all just knowing that I’m not playing for anyone except for God. just giving him all the glory on top,” Podlesny said. “I’m gathering my mental strength from Drew Brandon, our team psychologist. I get to meet with him every other week but really for me, it’s more like once a week maybe every day during the week. so he’s really helped me grow.”

Before Podlesny took over the role as the starting kicker for the Bulldogs, Georgia great Rodrigo “Hot Rod” Blankenship held down the role from 2016 to 2019. As the school’s all-time leader in points scored, Blankenship meant more to Georgia football than just an intoxicating personality in goggles. That meant quite a bit of pressure for Podlesny in taking over for him the last few seasons.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Podlesny admitted. “Rod left a huge legacy here. I mean, he’s going to be a name in the books probably until this program runs itself into the ground. Which is probably never. so there was a lot of pressure coming in 2020, trying to win the job, stepping in, filling his shoes. I’m just trying to do my best job and hopefully, I can account for something.”

While the Georgia offense sputtered multiple times in plus-territory against the Kent State Golden Flashes, Podlesny took advantage of his opportunity, knocking in all three of his field goal attempts and all four of his PATs. The performance was impressive enough to win him SEC Special Teams Player of the Week.

“It meant a lot to me,” Podlesny stated. “Honestly, I didn’t think I was hitting my best balls on a Saturday, but something that I’ve learned over the past few years is that your b-ball has got to be good. and on Saturday those were probably my b-balls and my b-balls satisfied.”

While Georgia wants to see Podlesny on the field quite a bit in tonight’s game against Missouri, the Bulldogs absolutely want it to be after touchdowns, not for field goals. But if it comes down to it with the game on the line and Podlesny’s got to step up and hit the kick, Georgia should know it’s absolutely in good hands.