Georgia settles on starting punter heading into 2017 season

Though Georgia’s punter won’t see the field too much if all goes according to plans this season, it’s still an important position for any football team.

This summer, incumbent Marshall Long and Columbia-transfer Cameron Nizialek have been battling for the starting job, but now the Bulldogs have made their decision.

According to 247Sports, student assistant Kevin Butler, a former Georgia punter himself, said Nizialek would handle the team’s punting heading into next weekend’s season opener.

“Cameron, our other transfer in, is our punter,” Butler said during the second hour of Bulldog Live on Thursday. “He’s much improved from what we did last year.”

Long dislocated his kneecap late last season and, according to Butler, hasn’t been at full-strength yet this summer, leading to the decision to go with Nizialek:

“Marshall Long is kind of battling back from a tough knee injury last year,” Butler said. “So Bill Rubright, our freshman preferred walk-on out of Marist High School, has stepped up to kind of assume that second-team punter right now.”

If Long can’t even win the second-string job, the assumption is that he’ll take a medical redshirt this year so he can continue to recover.

For now, though, he’ll back up Nizialek as the Bulldogs open the season on Saturday, Sept. 2, against Appalachian State.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.