Head Coach Kirby Smart was recently asked after Georgia’s second scrimmage on Saturday if Bulldog quarterback Brice Ramsey would still be the punter if they had a game to play right around the corner.
 
 
His answer to that question was “Yes. That would be the case right now.”
 
 

 
 
Brice Ramsey is also battling with Jacob Eason, Grayson Lambert and Nick Robinson for a start at quarterback this season, which is making for an interesting and heated position race. However, he just doesn’t have a lot of competition at punter this spring or at least no one has done a better job than Ramsey that gives Coach Smart or Special Teams Coordinator and Tight end’s coach, Shane Beamer, much confidence to go with a different kicker.
 
 
So far, Ramsey’s only competition has been Will Cowart, a redshirt sophomore, walk-on transfer from LaGrange College, but that could change come fall when class of 2016 punter and signee Marshall Long will look to get a “leg up” on Ramsey. Long is a 6 foot 3 and 220 lbs punter out of South Rowan high school from China Grove, North Carolina, and he is a player that Coach Beamer is familiar with. Long had been originally committed to Virginia Tech, where Shane Beamer had served as an associate head coach and running backs coach for the Hokies and recruited the linebacker built punter, before flipping his commitment to Georgia.
 
 
And what are Marshall Long’s chances to usurp Ramsey?
 
 
While he has to come in and put in the work to beat number number 12 out of the punting job, Long certainly has the talent and the leg to do so. He is considered one of the top punters in the class of 2016 and is an U.S. Army All-American. Long is ranked as the number 5 punter for 2016 by Chris Sailer Kicking, and he averaged over 46 yards per punt as a senior.
 
 
And what if Long cannot beat out Ramsey during fall camp?
 
 
Then Ramsey will most likely be the punter to start the season, unless he ends up beating out Eason and Lambert to start at quarterback. As we discussed on the Bulldawg Illustrated On-Air podcast recently, it is doubtful we would see the starting quarterback also punt. There is just to big of a risk of getting the starting QB injured.
 
 
Ramsey had mixed results as Georgia’s punter last year, sharing duties with Collin Barber. Versus Florida and Kentucky, Ramsey was able to put his leg into it and averaged a very respectful 47.67 and 46.00 yards per punt, but he struggled against Tech with 3 for just 34.67 yards per punt. For the season, he averaged 41.92 yards per punt.