ATHENS, Ga. - One of the biggest understatements of the 2017 Southeastern Conference football season occurred recently when Georgia punter Cameron Nizialek looked around at reporters and said, "It's gone well so far."
After finishing 13th in the SEC in net punting a year ago, when Marshall Long and third-string quarterback Brice Ramsey handled the kicking, the No. 7 Bulldogs (4-0, 1-0) now lead the league behind a graduate transfer from Columbia University.
Nizialek has averaged 44.5 yards on 19 punts entering Saturday afternoon's showdown at Tennessee (3-1, 0-1), with his nine punts inside the opposing 20-yard line ranking second in the SEC to Volunteers counterpart Trevor Daniel, who has 12. Only two Nizialek punts have been returned through four games, with those returns netting minus-4 yards. Georgia's net average of 44.74 yards ranks fourth nationally.
"Coming in, I just wanted the opportunity to get a chance," Nizialek said. "That's all you can ask for as a graduate student."
And it's more than you can ask for if you're second-year Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart.
"He didn't cost us anything," Smart said in a recent news conference. "He was a grad-school transfer who walked on. He's won a job. He saw an opportunity, and he seized it. I never saw him kick at Columbia.
"He came to a game and said, 'I want to come to Georgia.' We fell into this one."
Punting took a distant back seat to academics for Nizialek coming out of Freedom High School in Chantilly, Va. His parents are Duke University graduates, and because there weren't a lot of options from an athletic scholarship standpoint, he ventured to the Ivy League.
Nizialek majored in economics at Columbia and is now pursuing a master's in kinesiology, but his desire to punt grew when he averaged 42.9 yards as a redshirt sophomore in 2015 and a league-leading 44.8 yards last season.
So he decided to look for a bigger stage for his final year. Nizialek reached out to schools after the last game of last season, which in the Ivy League always occurs before Thanksgiving. He attended Georgia's 28-27 loss to Georgia Tech in Sanford Stadium and also visited Clemson, South Carolina and Virginia Tech.
"I really liked it here the most," he said.
Nizialek has discovered a completely different world at Georgia, beginning with the 66,133 fans who attended the G-Day game in April. That audience was greater than what Nizialek experienced during all 10 games combined with Columbia last season.
When he stepped out on the field before nearly 93,000 in the season opener Sept. 2 against visiting Appalachian State, Nizialek was told by coaches to simply "soak it in."
Georgia's success in net punting so far is not only the result of Nizialek's arrival but the improved special-teams play of receivers Mecole Hardman and Jayson Stanley. Those are the first two Bulldogs down the field on punts and are a big reason why opponents are losing yardage should they decide to return them.
"Those are two of the fastest guys I've ever seen," Nizialek said. "Even if I have a bad punt, those guys are down there right in their face. It's awesome to have those guys."
Nizialek will compete before his biggest crowd Saturday, when more than 100,000 fans are expected to pack Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. It's a long way from the 3,000 or 4,000 who watched him play for the Lions last season, but Smart is just looking for more of the same when it's his turn to take the field.
"He gets it off real fast," Smart said. "He's been consistent, and he just changes the field position. We measure punts by hang time, so if you kick it 63 yards in three seconds, that's not good.
"We look for hang and distance to match, and he's done that."
Odds and ends
Smart on injured quarterback Jacob Eason's status for Saturday: "We certainly hope to have him ready to go." ... Dyshon Sims continued to work at first-team right guard during Wednesday's portion of practice that was open to the media, while Solomon Kindley continues to be limited by a sprained ankle.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.