After four sterling years, Georgia placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship finally enters his final season in 2019. That’s created a need for the Bulldogs, which in turn created an opening for Jared Zirkel.
Don’t worry if you haven’t heard Zirkel name before. The un-rated kicker prospect has long had a massive leg, but he hasn’t hit the radar of major recruiting reporters because he A) is a kicker, and B) plays for a smaller classification school in the Texas hill country.
Well, let’s just say that now he’s officially broken through. According to 247Sports, Zirkel earned a scholarship offer from Georgia by winning the team’s annual kickoff competition at its camp earlier in June, then decided to accept it weeks later.
Here was Zirkel’s official announcement, which he posted to Twitter:
While a player like Zirkel — who hit a 59-yard field goal in 2018!!! — might qualify as the most famous recruit from many smaller high schools, that’s hardly the case at Tivy High (Kerrville, Texas). That’s because the Antlers were once quarterbacked by none other than Johnny Manziel.
Manziel, who graduated in 2010, was considered a three-star prospect while playing at Tivy (he initially committed to Oregon before flipping to Texas A&M during his senior year). Zirkel’s ranking may not reach that threshold — few kickers do — but the fact that he will land at Georgia makes him a bona fide celebrity in Kerrville, regardless.
