How Georgia kicker Jack Podlesny became the Bulldogs’ Peach Bowl hero
It’s been a season of firsts for Georgia’s redshirt sophomore kicker Jack Podlesny.
This is his first year as Georgia’s full-time placekicker. He made his first career extra point and field goal.
On Friday, Podlesny achieved his greatest milestone of all. In the closing seconds of the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, the St. Simons Island native booted home his first game-winning field goal, giving No. 9 Georgia a 22-21 lead in a game it went on to win 24-21.
“I just tried to slow my breathing because I didn’t want to rush anything, I didn’t want to overcompensate for anything,” said Podlesny, who also earned the distinction of Peach Bowl MVP. “The snap from Payne Walker and the hold from Jake Camarda, just unbelievable. I tried to follow through with the kick, and it went in.”
Podlesny has been solid all year, converting on 10 of his 13 field-goal attempts entering the bowl game. Six of those came from at least 40 yards away, with a long of 51.
Still, he told the coaching staff before the game he felt his range extended to about 55 yards. His game-winning kick came almost exactly on that number.
That titanic boot, however, almost didn’t happen. The Bulldogs trailed by 11 at the start of the fourth quarter before rallying to within two, with Podlesny chipping in a 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Georgia’s final drive started on its own 20-yard line with 1:28 left and no timeouts. Redshirt sophomore quarterback J.T. Daniels led the team down the field, eventually facing third-and-6 at the Bearcat 36 with just over 10 seconds left.
That put the Bulldogs into what the coaching staff calls a “must situation.” The offense either had to get out of bounds or complete a pass for a first down, temporarily stopping the clock.
Cincinnati had a good call on, playing for the short pass. That opened up a chance for a deep ball down the sideline, but Daniels overthrew freshman Jermaine Burton.
“I would have loved it if he would have hit it a little flatter, he might have got Jermaine for a touchdown,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the game. “But they took a chance, and we wanted to take a chance that they were going to max blitz us. But yeah, I felt comfortable. That’s been Pod’s range.”
Podlesny had spent the first part of the drive warming himself up for a potential game-winning attempt. As the drive moved on and he got warm, he stood at the front of the sideline ready to sprint onto the field if needed.
Smart didn’t have any last-second words of wisdom for his kicker. He prefers to stay away from the players with a reputation as being college football’s wild cards.
“I’ve been here for three years now,” Podlesny said. “I think he’s kind of started to learn how I react to things, whether it’s negative or positive, just not to kind of come in my bubble.”
Georgia’s 6-foot-1, 180-pound, soon-to-be hero trotted onto the field. He didn’t have too long to think about his kick, since Cincinnati had no timeouts remaining.
The snap came back, Camarda planted the ball in the ground and Podlesny connected. The ball curved perfectly right down the middle of the uprights, good from at least 55 yards just like Podlesny said.
Despite there being three seconds left in the game, his teammates stormed the field, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the process. Following the mayhem, Podlesny took a knee on the sideline.
He thought about the journey to this point, all the kicks made growing up, in high school at Glynn Academy, and in practice at Georgia and on the field this season.
“Just trying to remember why I’m here,” Podlesny said of the moment. “God put me here, God is good, because it’s just amazing to be here.”
God led him to Mercedes-Benz Stadium at about 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2021. The rest of the moment, he said, played out just like it had in his dreams.
This story was originally published January 1, 2021 at 5:56 PM.