Georgia vs. Auburn, Saturday, November 16, 2019
Georgia punter Jake Camarda and inside linebacker Monty Rice were honored with SEC Player of the Week for their performance in the Bulldogs’ 21-14 win over Auburn on Saturday.
Camarda earned SEC Special Teams Player of the Week after punting 11 times with two going for over 60-yards including a long of 67. He averaged 50.7 yards per punt downing four inside the 20. On the year, Camarda is averaging over 47 yards per punt which ranks him 4th in the SEC and 6th nationally. In addition to punting, Camarda is the holder for placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship on field goals and PATs.
Blankenship expressed support for Camarda via Twitter after the Southeastern Conference released the news.
Kirby Smart commented on Camarda’s performance versus Auburn in the postgame press conference on Saturday night.
“Man he hit the ball good. I mean a couple of them didn’t turn over. But God, I don’t even know what was his average? He was hitting bombs,” said Kirby. “It was incredible. I hope he doesn’t have to punt 11 times in a game again, but other than that he punted the ball well.”
And again on Monday, Kirby was asked about Camarda and how important he was in the win over Auburn.
“In that moment it was obviously one of the pivotal — I mean it was a field position game,” said Kirby. “So with him doing that, he flipped the field position, did a tremendous job. Can’t say enough about…”
A 6-foot-1 and 235 lbs junior who signed with Georgia out of James Clemens High School in Madison, AL in the 2017 recruiting class, Monty Rice earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week after tallying 10 tackles, 8 of which were solo tackles, helping the Dawgs’ defense to hold Auburn to just 84 yards on the ground rushing on 36 carries. Rice has played in and started all 10 games for UGA this year, and he leads the team in total tackles with 66 and solo tackles with 30 for the 2019 college football season.