ATLANTA (AP) Jack Podlesny told Georgia coaches before Friday’s Peach Bowl that he felt confident attempting field goals from as long as 55 yards a full 4 yards past his career best.
Podlesny made good on his claim, kicking a 53-yard field goal with three seconds remaining, and No. 11 Georgia handed No. 6 Cincinnati its only loss of the season with a dramatic 24-21 victory in the Peach Bowl.
Podlesny dropped to one knee following the career-long kick as his teammates surged onto the field. Asked what he was thinking while he was kneeling, Podlesny said he wanted to “try to remember why I’m here. . God is good and it’s amazing to be here.”
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech punter
Pressley Harvin III (Alcolu, S.C./Sumter) hauled in perhaps his most prestigious honor to date when he was named first-team All-America by the
Associated Press on Monday.
Harvin is the 20
th first-team AP All-American in Georgia Tech history and the first Yellow Jacket to earn the honor since defensive end Derrick Morgan in 2009. The AP has selected an All-America team every year since 1925.
Harvin leads the nation with a 48.0-yard punting average this season. To put his whopping 48.0-yard average into perspective, the margin between Harvin’s average and the third-best average in the nation (46.7 – Washington State’s Oscar Draguicevich) is the same as the margin between Draguicevich and the nation’s eighth-best average (45.4 – San Diego State’s Tanner Kuljian).
SEC coaches name DeVonta Smith offensive player of year
December 22, 2020 GMT
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Southeastern Conference coaches have chosen Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith as offensive player of the year over two fellow Heisman Trophy candidates.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide dominated the awards and All-SEC teams released on Tuesday. Cornerback Patrick Surtain II was defensive player of the year and Nick Saban was named coach of the year.
Tide teammates Alex Leatherwood and Landon Dickerson shared the Jacobs Blocking Trophy.
Smith was chosen as top offensive player over candidates including Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. All three are among the top Heisman contenders.
Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
In a year where his team became the first ever to win 11 SEC contests with zero losses, Nick Saban was finally recognized as the best coach in the conference for the second time during the Tide’s decade of dominance. That wasn’t all of the hardware Alabama took home. Related
Alabama’s DeVonta Smith was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year, while the Crimson Tide’s Patrick Surtain II was named Defensive Player of the Year. Georgia’s Jake Camarda was voted Special Teams Player of the Year, Missouri’s Connor Bazelak and Auburn’s Tank Bigsby shared SEC Freshman of the Year honors, Alabama teammates Landon Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood were named recipients of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, and Alabama coach Nick Saban was named SEC Coach of the Year. Alabama’s Mac Jones earned scholar-athlete of the year honors.
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HERE to vote for Pressley Harvin III the 2020 Ray Guy Award (fan voting is open through January 1)
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech punter
Pressley Harvin III (Alcolu, S.C./Sumter) added two more prestigious honors to a growing list of accolades on Tuesday when he was named first-team all-America by ESPN and one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top punter.
Harvin is Georgia Tech’s first all-American since offensive lineman Shaq Mason received first-team honors from
USA Today in 2014. He is only the second Ray Guy Award finalist in Tech history, joining Durant Brooks, who won the award in 2007 and was a finalist in 2006.