Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS, Ga. -- As bounceback stories go, Blair Walsh’s is not only extreme, but it happened with amazing speed.

Walsh, whose draft stock slipped a bit with an erratic senior season at Georgia in 2011, not only returned to the form that made him one of the nation’s top kickers in 2009 and 2010, he exceeded it. As a rookie with the Minnesota Vikings last fall, Walsh enjoyed one of the most productive seasons of any placekicker in NFL history, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors by hitting 35 of 38 field goals -- including 10-for-10 from 50 yards and beyond -- and all 36 of his PATs.

He credits a mechanical change for the turnaround, as his accuracy returned once he slowed his approach to the ball before attempting a field goal. And just like that, Walsh was back to performing like the Lou Groza Award finalist he had been during his college career -- one that started with him ranked as ESPN’s No. 7 kicking prospect when he signed with Georgia in 2008.

Looking back on his experiences as a recruit, Walsh said he settled on becoming a Bulldog early in the process because of the opportunity to play right away since Brandon Coutu’s eligibility expired after the 2007 season. And he took advantage of that chance, becoming the leading scorer in SEC history with 412 career points.

Walsh discussed the decision to attend Georgia and his experiences as a recruit with DawgNation’s David Ching on Monday afternoon. Here are some of his recollections:

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Here’s a breakdown of Georgia’s last seven recruiting classes and what they managed to accomplish in college and beyond:

2006
ESPN top five classes: Florida, USC, Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame
Georgia’s ranking: 4

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Georgia’s recent success against Florida has been a long time in coming. The Bulldogs had not beaten the Gators in back-to-back seasons in more than two decades, dating back to 1988-89. Florida has an 18-5 record over Georgia since 1990 so the rivalry has been mostly one-sided. But thanks to some recruiting success, Mark Richt has turned the annual showdown in Jacksonville, Fla., back into one of the most highly contested battles of the year.

And he did it with some ringers from the Sunshine State.

Quarterback Aaron Murray has struggled against the Gators but is 2-1 in his career against them. In his first win he completed four passes to tight end Orson Charles of Tampa, Fla. All-SEC kicker Blair Walsh, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., always said the Florida game was the biggest of the year and he scored 22 points against the Gators in his career. Keeping Murray upright this year was a freshman from Jacksonville, right tackle John Theus.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Imagine if you dare what might have happened if Connor Norman hadn’t saved Georgia by recovering an onside kick with just less than four minutes to play in the Bulldogs’ 29-24 win at Kentucky on Saturday.

Georgia had just allowed Kentucky to tiptoe back into the game with a 75-yard touchdown drive and was clinging to a 5-point lead when Wildcats kicker Joseph Mansour tapped an onside kick that had nearly trickled the necessary 10 yards when he crouched to dive on the loose ball. Only Norman raced to dive on the ball a split second before him, preventing Kentucky from attempting a potential game-winning drive that could have devastated the Georgia program and its fans.

“Connor was heads up to go in there and snatch it and be strong enough to convince the officials that it was his. So it was a huge play,” a relieved Georgia coach Mark Richt said after the game. “It was a lot of huge plays in the game, but Connor did a great job.”

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Editor’s note: Georgia’s football season is halfway over and the Bulldogs will take this weekend off before resuming SEC play next Saturday at Kentucky. We’ll take a look at a different position group each day this week and evaluate how it performed in the first half of the season in our DawgNation midseason report cards.

ATHENS, Ga. -- A year after special teams play was a glaring weakness for Georgia, it was more of a mixed bag for the Bulldogs in the first half of this season.

Todd Gurley returned Georgia's first kickoff of the season for a 100-yard touchdown against Buffalo, but South Carolina’s Ace Sanders returned a punt for a touchdown last week that all but eliminated Georgia’s chances for victory.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Marshall Morgan experienced another couple of hilly points on his rollercoaster ride as Georgia’s place-kicker last Saturday.

In the Bulldogs’ 51-44 win against Tennessee, the freshman’s problems with extra points continued -- he failed on one attempt after banking it off the left upright, having already chipped three successful PATs off the left upright in previous games, plus Tennessee’s Daniel McCullers blocked another PAT try -- and yet he also contributed one of the biggest momentum-shifting plays of the game.

Morgan’s 50-yard field goal at the halftime buzzer helped Georgia tie the score at 30-30, helping the Bulldogs right the ship after a dismal second quarter eliminated a big early advantage.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- One of Georgia’s greatest areas of emphasis during the offseason was improving its atrocious results on special teams -- particularly in covering kicks.

So how did the Bulldogs fare in their first time out after inserting more starters and key players on the special teams units? Pretty well, actually.

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Twenty-eight days remain until Georgia kicks off its season opener against Buffalo on Sept. 1. In the days counting down to the opener, DawgNation will profile, with our “Around the Hedges in 80 Days” series, a Bulldogs player we expect to make an impact. We will review each player’s career thus far and project his long-term potential as we progress through our alphabetical list, from center David Andrews to receiver Rantavious Wooten.

28. Marshall Morgan
Freshman, Place-kicker
6-foot-3, 201 pounds

Fall forecast: While Georgia’s coaches didn’t hand Morgan the starting kicker job before he had started his first preseason camp with the Bulldogs, it certainly seems as though the job is his to lose. One of the nation’s top kicking prospects in the 2012 signing class, Morgan hopes to take over as Blair Walsh’s replacement immediately, and he has the ability to do it. He went 10-for-12 on field goals as a high school senior -- including a Broward County (Fla.) record 59-yard field goal -- and kicked all but one of his kickoffs into the end zone for a touchback. Freshman kickers sometimes endure growing pains, however, and it bears watching whether Morgan is prepared to make a high-pressure kick in front of 100,000 screaming fans.

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Editor’s note: With Georgia set to open preseason camp on Thursday, DawgNation will break down each position group and the storylines to watch in August. After examining Georgia’s offensive and defensive position groups, we complete the series today with the Bulldogs’ special teams units.

Perhaps no area on Georgia’s roster is more unsettled than its special teams units as preseason practice approaches.

The Bulldogs lost a Ray Guy Award winner in punter Drew Butler, a record-setting Lou Groza Award finalist in kicker Blair Walsh and the 2011 Paul Hornung Award winner -- a prize given to the nation’s most versatile player -- to Brandon Boykin, who handled the majority of kickoff and punt returns last season.

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