Georgia Tech Football: What Will the Jackets Do at Kicker?
With both their starting kickers from the last two seasons gone, the Georgia Tech Football team’s situation at kicker has become an even bigger question.
With both Brenton King and Wesley Wells leaving the program, the Georgia Tech football’s team murky situation at kicker has become even murkier. The Yellow Jackets now have no kickers on their roster that have experience in game situations. The 2019 season was a struggle for both King and Wells as the Yellow Jackets struggled in the kicking game overall. Heading into spring practices, place kicking was one area we believed the Yellow Jackets must get better in, to show any improvement in 2020.
As of right now, Georgia Tech only has one option at kicker and that’s redshirt sophomore Cliff Glandis. Glandis, a native of Greer, South Carolina has no in-game experience but was a highly regarded kicker coming out of high school. He even earned South Carolina Specialist of the Year as a senior according to his official Georgia Tech profile. But even then, it’s hard to guarantee that Glandis will have success on The Flats. Come the summer, Gandis will have competition to go up against as walk-ons Jude Kelley and Steven Verdisco.
As of right now, that is the Yellow Jackets options at kicker heading into the 2020 situation. However, one place, that the Yellow Jackets could possibly find help is in the transfer portal.
According to 247Sports’s transfer portal page, there are currently three kickers in the transfer portal who have immediate eligibility. Those three kickers are the following;
- Connor Culp – LSU
- Van Soderberg – Washington
- Tyler Sumpter – Troy
Here’s a little bit on each of the three immediate eligibility kickers.
Connor Culp – LSU
Culp was a top-15 kicker in the 2016 recruiting class and is quite experienced after playing at LSU for the last three years. Culp was the Tigers starting kicker in 2017 when he was 20-for-23 in extra points and 11-for-16 for in field goal attempts. He hasn’t seen in game action since the 2016 season. An Arizona native, Culp may choose to go west to finish his career.
Van Soderberg – Washington
A native of Olympia, Washington it doesn’t seem likely for Soderberg to come to Atlanta but it’s a name to know. Another kicker who hasn’t seen playing time since 2017, Soderberg went 10-for-10 in the point extra category but only had three field goal attempts, going 1-for-3.
Tyler Sumpter – Troy
Sumpter is by far the best option of these three kickers and was a three-year starter for Troy. Sumpter over his career with the Trojans was tremendous, showing great consistency and accuracy. During his three-years as Troy’s kicker, Sumpter was 125-for-125 in extra points and 39-for-51 on field goal attempts. Sumpter also was the Trojan’s punter the last few years but would not need to take over those duties with Pressley Harvin III returning for his final season. A native of Hoover, Alabama, the Yellow Jackets would be a close, power five option for the talented transfer.
The Yellow Jackets may not go the transfer route and may just stick with what they have on the roster this spring and summer. Additionally, at the end of spring practices, more players including kickers will file into the transfer portal. But for now, those are three transfer kickers to know for the immediate future. Obviously, none of those player would join the Yellow Jackets this spring but would in time for summer and fall if that is the route the Yellow Jackets choose to go.
That all being said, whoever the Yellow Jackets eventually choose to be their kicker in 2020 will need to vastly improve on their 2019 performance. As a team in 2019, the Yellow Jackets were 3-for-8 in field goal attempts.