Brice Ramsey enters Florida game as punter, rotates with Marshall Long

Midway through the second quarter of Saturday's 24-10 loss to Florida, Georgia decided to give its other punter a chance.

After shanking a 20-yard punt with over five minutes to go in the second quarter, freshman punter Marshall Long was relegated to the bench for the next two punts.

Georgia decided to go with backup punter Brice Punter with just over a minute left in the first half. Ramsey’s punt traveled 36 yards and was of the rugby-style variety. Georgia again turned to Ramsey again on a rugby-style punt with 13:32 to go in the third quarter, after a three-and-out, which only traveled 25 yards.

"I feel like I hit them pretty good," Ramsey said. "I would've taken back the second one that I kind of shanked."

Ramsey said the rugby-style punts were designed to give Florida a different look if he was called upon. While it looked like there might have been a passing option out of this set, Ramsey said that wasn't necessarily the case.

"It was something to trip up their special teams because we haven't showed that look at all this year," Ramsey said.

For the remainder of the game, both Long and Ramsey entered the game to attempt punts. Long punted five times and Ramsey three.

Both Long and Ramsey averaged 32 yards per punt.

Head coach Kirby Smart said he didn't enter Saturday's game expecting to use Ramsey but that with Long struggling, he decided to throw a "change-up" at the Gators.

Smart said that while Long is struggling, he has punted well in practice.

"I have complete confidence that Marshall's going to be able to kick the ball. He kicked well in practice. He really did. He's struggling a little bit. He's in a slump. And we're going to get him out of that slump because we love him. The thing is, he can punt. He's a good punter."

This story was originally published October 29, 2016 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Brice Ramsey enters Florida game as punter, rotates with Marshall Long."