The Georgia Bulldogs have played an overwhelming majority of their football games this season without the need for a quality kicker.
They know they’ve got one, though.
When the Bulldogs experienced their closest call — the 26-22 escape at Missouri on Oct. 1 — Jack Podlesny connected on all four of his field-goal attempts. The second tightest margin of victory for Georgia occurred in last Saturday’s 16-6 triumph at Kentucky, when the fifth-year senior made kicks of 27, 24 and 37 yards to provide the Bulldogs a 9-0 halftime lead.
Sure, attempts from those distances can be routine, but Podlesny was dealing with 36-degree temperatures and winds of 15 miles per hour.
“It’s pretty awesome being able to step up when my team needed me and execute,” Podlesny said this week in a news conference. “At the end of the day, I’d like to think it’s a 70% mindset thing and 30% conditions. You’ve got to go out there and do your job, whether that means aiming outside of the upright for the wind to take it back in or whether it means alternative kickoffs.