Photo Credits: Jared Zirkel (Twitter)
The Georgia Football program received a nice prize on Thursday morning when Class of 2020 Texas high school kicking sensation Jared Zirkel committed to play football for the University of Georgia.
Zirkel plays for Tivy High School and hails from Kerrville, Texas. With his pledge to be a Dawg today, the UGA Football program now has a total of 13 commitments and the #4 overall rated recruiting class for the current cycle. Zirkel also makes the third commitment in the respective class from “The Lone Star State” joining 4-Star OG Akinola Ogunbiyi and 4-Star CB Jalen Kimber.
So who exactly is Georgia’s new kicker commit? First and foremost, Zirkel is not your average kicker given his size as he stands in at 6-3 and 190 pounds. His frame, stature, and build are not the only things that are big as he has a big leg of which he boots the ball with. To provide some real insight into just how good Zirkel really is and what the Georgia Football program is getting with him, take a gander at what Brent Grablachoff, owner of Kicking World, had to say about the elite kicker per his Hot Prospect profile as seen below.
“Jared Zirkel – UPDATE: On 6/12/19 Georgia offered Jared Zirkel and he verbally committed. Early June 2019 Jared won both UGA and UTSA kickoff competitions with impressive distance and hang times in the range of 75 / 4.2, with even a couple absolute bombs in the 4.4 range – which is better than many kickers in the NFL. On 4/23/19 Jared hit a 70 yard FG off the crossbar during a private lesson. Jared had a dominating kickoff performance at our 2018 National Showcase besting the entire field of 61 and winning both days’ charting and elimination events with multiple kickoffs over 80 yards and 4.0+ seconds, with a whopping average of 75.2 yards / 3.9 seconds. He also finished tied as runner-up on Day 2 FG hitting a 60 yarder during the double-elimination competition and making it to the final 3. Jared is 1 of 11 2018 All-Americans, making AA Punter and Hon Mention Kicker pinning 18 of 44 punts inside the 20. On 9/7/18 Jared kicked a 59 yard FG in game and was also 9/9 kickoffs for touchbacks in their dominating win. As a Freshman Jared was kicking 55+ yard field goals and kickoffs in the end zone! He’s now 6’3, stronger, and is absolutely crushing automatic touchbacks. He’s performed well at each of our events and was the youngest prospect added to our List at that time. He now kicks his field goals off the ground and gets tremendous power with the ability to hit 68 yards. He has perhaps the strongest leg in the country. August 12, 2018 he won all 3 events at our Austin event against 30 kids from across TX. Jared won the Texas A&M kickoff competition (74 / 4.2 KO), and KW Dallas FG Competition in July. June 17-18, 2017 he was hitting kickoffs 70+ yards, 3.9 seconds and even hit an 80-yard kickoff. 2017 Showcase – Jared was #1 overall on kickoffs hitting one at 70 yards, 3.92 seconds; with brand new balls. Kickoff wise, he can easily beat the majority of current FBS kickers. Freakish leg strength. SCHOLARSHIP WORTHY KICKER who can also punt well. “
Coach’s Comments And Profile Overview On Class Of 2020 Kicker Jared Zirkel On Kicking World
As a Junior in 2018, Zirkel had 63 of his 70 kickoffs go for touchbacks while averaging 38.3 yards on 44 punts. His long punt of the campaign went for 56 yards and 18 of his “boots” went on to be downed inside the 20-yard line. With Georgia Football Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship entering into his final season with the Georgia Bulldogs, UGA Special Teams Coordinator Scott Fountain and the rest of the Georgia coaching staff outdid themselves with hauling in Zirkel as his replacement. Zirkel is a real gem to obtain and he is a future star that will soon make a great impact in the area of special teams for the University of Georgia. There are only two words left to say in light of today’s news of Zirkel deciding to “Commit To The G”: Go Dawgs!!!