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Friday, September 10, aoio | The Red a Black
FAMOUS FOOTWEAR
Blair Walsh and Drew Butler headline the nation’s top special teams unit.
With a team’s season riding on their feet, the duo plans to keep Georgia alive and kicking.
By NICK PARKER
The Red & Black
A year ago, the Bulldogs
entered the season with an
unproven first-year starter
at punter, and a kicker with
tons of potential but bat
tling bouts of inconsisten
cy.
A year has passed and
kicking woes have become
the least of the Bulldogs’
worries, entering this sea
son armed with the nation’s
top kicking pair —a unani
mous first-team All-
American returning at
punter, Drew Butler, and a
preseason first-team All-
SEC kicker, Blair Walsh.
“Those are the best by
far," quarterback Aaron
Murray said. “Our kicking
game is huge. It’s great
thing to have [Butler) to
be able to switch momen
tum and just really pin
them back and give us bet
ter field position. Our
coaches always say every
possession we want to end
with a kick an extra
point, field goal or punt. If
every possession is done
like that, we’re either prob
ably going to get points on
the board or pin them back
far enough that if they
don’t do anything on
offense, we’re going to have
great position the next
time we have the ball.”
For a Georgia offense
that struggled at times last
season, .Butler was an
invaluable weapon in the
war for field position, aver
aging a national-best 48.1
yards per kick, two full
yards better than the next
closest, and frequently flip
ping field position on his
way to the University
record for single-season
punting average.
It’s a number so impres
sive that Butler believes he
will have trouble replicat
ing it in 2010, despite get
ting off to a solid start with
six punts that went for an
average of 46.7 yards per
kick. Instead of duplicating
last year’s mark, his offsea
son focus has been on
increasing the hang time of
his punts for a better net
punting average, striving
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for a net average of 42 yards
per kick Just a tad above
his 41.9 net average last
season.
“Gross average is such a
situational average. Last
year we were kicking out of
our own end zone and our
offense wasn’t ’moving the
ball as much as they’d liked
to," Butler said. “I know
things are going to be dif
ferent this year, so num
bers may be different, but
if we can keep that net
average around 42 yards or
above 40, that’s a huge goal
for me and the team.”
Butler’s net average will
be an especially important
statistic to watch for this
weekend against South
Carolina, as South
Carolina’s Stephon Gilmore
is dangerous as a punt
returner, who didn’t get to
return a punt last week.
With Butler punting, the
Gamecocks’ head coach
Steve Spurrier isn’t sure
his star playmaker will get
a chance to return a punt
again, calling Butler
“maybe the best punter in
the nation.”
But Butler believes he’s
prepared for Gilmore
thanks to the Bulldogs’
own punt returner, Branden
Smith, who he tries to keep
his punts away from every
day in practice.
“Branden’s a pretty elec
tric guy, so when I’m in
there I try to punt away
from him and not to him,”
Butler said. “Having a guy
like that, that has lateral
movement, those guys
react to the football so well
that If you can figure out a
way to keep it out of their
hands, it’ll probably help
you with any other return
man in the league.”
Like Butler, Walsh post
ed tremendous numbers
last season, connecting on
20 of his 22 field goals,
including four 50-plus yard
ers, and all 42 of his extra
points. But the one area of
improvement for Walsh is
on kickoffs, where he’s
being coached by new
inside linebackers coach
Warren Belin, who is in
charge of the kickoff team
and calls Walsh “one of the
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best” kickers he’s ever been
around.
Last season, Walsh only
had 17 touchbacks on kick
offs, but the frequently
lahaented “directional kick
ing” strategy employed
under Jon Fabris has “defi
nitely changed,” according
to Walsh.
“The way we go down
there has changed, but cer
tain times you’re going to
have certain kicks put at
different places on the field,
its not always rip it and
pip it down the field but
it’s definitely more open.”
Walsh said.
But still, it’s field goals
that remain his bread and
butter, and he started off
his campaign for the Lou
Groza Award this season
by hitting a 52-yard and
48-yard field goal in the
Bulldogs’ opener. And as
he does each week, Walsh
is preparing for Saturday’s
Free
appetizers.
See below.
game against South
Carolina to come down to
him.
“I’m going through men
tal preparation all week
thinking about what if it
does come down to me,"
Walsh said. “You have to be
mentally prepared for this
one because you always
know this one is going to
be close no matter what.”
And if that situation
arises, Walsh has his punter
Butler to rely on, who also
doubles as his holder.
“I would venture to say
he’s probably the best at
the country at that,” Walsh
said. “I’m telling you any
where I want the ball, any
way I want the ball, he does
it every time.”
It’s a special bond that
has developed between the
two. All offseason they
worked out together, push
ing each other to do even
better than the season
before.
“We’re pretty close,”
Walsh said. “We’re room
mates on all the away trips,
and we feed off each other
and really push each other
to be the best.”
And while some players
crave the spotlight that
comes with their successes,
this dynamic duo is hopidg
to have their names called
upon less this season.
“With a season like last
year where we weren’t win
ning as many games, spe
cial teams and field posi
tion came into play proba
bly a little more than we
wanted it to on a couple
occasions," Butler said.
“We really don’t want to be
thought of as such a big
part of the team.
“But it definitely is an
honor to be. Whenever
we’re called upon, that’s
why we’re there, we’re
there to make plays, and
we’re there to do our thing,
which is to win the field
position, and get points on
the board.”
And with how close the
series against South
Carolina has been in the
past, that call could come
as early as this weekend.
Luckily for Georgia, it
couldn’t ask for a more vir
tuoso pair of legs to answer
the call.
bHH 706-542-3243 or 800-877-3243
- A ■ ? de.advisor@georgiacenter.uga.edu
? The University of Georgia
1 NtJi ('enter for Continum/j Education
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CLASSES THAT RT
YOUR SCHBXJIf 1197 South Lumpkin Street * Athens, Georgia 30602-3603
BLAIR WALSH - place kicker
• Made 20 of 22 field goals
• Nailed four 50-yarders
• 100 percent on extra points
• One-of-three finalists for the Lou Groza Award.
DREW BUTLER - punter
• Averaged a national best 48.1 yards a punt
• Unanimously voted to be a first-team All-American
• Named to first-team All-SEC
• Downed 19 punts inside the 20 yard line
. . ato-r *
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LEXI DCABEN I TANARUS Rm> • Buci
(Top) Kicker Blair Walsh (57) connected on 91
percent of his field goal attempts last season,
while punter Drew Butler’s (above) 48.1 yards
per punt last season set a Georgia single-sea
son record, making them undoubtedly the
nation’s most feared kicking combination.