Rodrigo Blankenship signs with Buccaneers after minicamp tryout
Former Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship has signed his next NFL contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – coached of course by Georgia freshman linebacker Troy Bowles’ father Todd.
Coming off of surgery earlier this offseason, Blankenship continues to make his way back onto the field. He was in Tampa earlier this week for a workout during minicamp. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the workout led to a deal.
Blankenship has been out of college for three seasons now and is going into his fourth. The Buccaneers will be his third team in that time, spending the first three seasons with the Indianapolis Colts before being waived after a tough start to the season. He had a workout with the Jacksonville Jaguars before kicking in a pair of contests for the Arizona Cardinals.
On his career, Blankenship has made 47 of 56 attempts and 54 of 58 extra points. His career long came from 53 yards as a rookie with the Colts, but Blankenship was able to knock through his longest kick since then in the short time with the Cardinals, making one from 50 yards out.
Over the course of his career in red and black (2016-2019), Blankenship made 80 of his 97 field goal attempts, finishing as the leading scorer in program history with 440 points as well as the all-time leader in field goal percentage at 82.47 percent. It also shouldn’t go unnoticed that Blankenship was a perfect 200-of-200 on PATs, helping Georgia hold the longest such streak in the country for quite some time.
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Blankenship was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2016 as selected by the league’s head coaches. He hit a career-long 55-yard field just before halftime of Georgia’s Rose Bowl win over Oklahoma in the College Football Playoffs, a play that helped turn the tide for the Bulldogs in route to victory.
Blankenship was named to the All-SEC Second-Team by both the media and coaches in 2018, and in 2019, he was recognized as the top kicker in the country with the Lou Groza Award, also earning All-SEC and All-American honors in the process.
As a key part of the winningest senior class in program history when they left – both on and off the field – Blankenship holds a special place in the heart of Georgia fans. He started his career as a walk-on. He finished it as a legend, known just as well for his glasses and nickname as he was his outstanding kicking.
