Over the next couple of weeks, we here at Bulldawg Illustrated are going to be looking at Georgia football’s incoming freshman class of 2020 in a new series called First Year Look. The Bulldogs’ 2020 class features 25 signees that collectively finished as the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports and Rivals.
All 25 of Georgia’s incoming freshmen have reported to campus before workouts started on June 8. Now, they are prepping for their first preseason camp. Over the past couple of days, Bulldawg Illustrated has taken a look a good portion of the 2020 class, and today we will move on to Jared Zirkel.
Ranking: Per the 247Sports Composite, Zirkel ranked as the No. 1,925 player nationally, No. 5 place-kicker, and the No. 270 player ranked out of Texas.
Zirkel’s Story: His story of how he signed with UGA was pretty cut-and-dry. Knowing that the team was going to lose Rodrigo Blankenship at the end of the 2019 season, the UGA staff went out and evaluated the position heavily across the country going into the 2020 recruiting cycle. After finding the Texas native, they offered him early and that was it. Zirkel committed and never took any official visits to opposing schools or flirted with them.
Where he fits: Zirkel was gifted with an extremely talented leg that can handle both place-kicking and kickoffs. He’s very tall standing at 6-foot-3 but will have to bulk up some this summer to get a long stronger at the next level. He has a lot of raw ability right now, but like every young place-kicker, will have to adjust to the speed of the college game to improve his skills and accuracy.
2020 Impact: The Texas native has the chance to be the starting place-kicker right away. He will have to compete with punter Jake Camarda, who was Rodrigo Blankenship’s backup the past two seasons. Camarda can handle punts, PATs, field goals, and kickoffs as well, but there’s no way Kirby Smart lets that happen. This gives Zirkel a chance to handle some responsibilities right away as he is going to get every opportunity to compete for the job.