A thank you to former UGA football K kicker Rodrigo Blankenship for an incredible career at the University of Georgia.
What an unbelievable, unexpected career it has been for Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship. What all started in 2015, the graduate senior has slowly but surely taken the college football world by storm with his mustache, rec-specs and superior kicking ability.
Now, he has signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Indianapolis Colts.
Rodrigo, more commonly known as ‘Hot Rod’, is not your average looking NFL kicker, or collegiate kicker for that matter. But that only adds to the hype when you put up numbers like Blankenship has during his time in Athens.
Blankenship attended Sprayberry High School in Marietta, GA. He graduated in the 2015 class and did a red-shirt year as a preferred walk on his first year at UGA.
In the 2016 season, Rod hit 14/18 field goals attempted, along with going a perfect 26/26 on extra points. He led the team in scoring, was named to the All-SEC Freshman team and solidified Kirby Smart’s respect for the specs.
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In 2017, Blankenship went 20/23 on field goals and 65/65 on extra points. In the game at Notre Dame, Blankenship hit a 26 yarder early on to tie the score at 3-3. Then with 3:34 remaining in the 4th, down 19-17, Hot Rod hit what would be the game winner, securing the Bulldogs 20-19 road win in their first matchup with the Fighting Irish since the 1980 National Championship.
Blankenship announced to the team that he was officially ‘on scholarship’ after that Notre Dame road win.
And that’s really when the love affair between Rod and the DawgNation began.
Later that season, Blankenship helped the Dawgs to a Rose Bowl victory, going 2/3 on field goals that game, including his 55-yarder that set a Rose Bowl record. Blankenship went 6/6 from extra points, tallying a total of 12 points in Georgia’s biggest win in nearly 40 years.
And nobody could forget the legendary picture that was taken before that game with Atlanta rapper Quavo.
Blankenship hit what could have been a 51-yard game winning field goal, giving the Dawgs the lead in overtime in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, but Georgia fell just short to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
In the 2018 season, Blankenship hit 19/23 FGs and was again perfect from extra point kicks, going 65/65.
Blankenship made history in the first game of that season, setting the consecutive extra-point record for Georgia school history with 120 straight in a 41-13 victory over Vanderbilt, beating Blair Walsh’s previous record of 119.
He was named All-SEC second team following the 2018 season.
Hot Rod went 27/33 in 2019, once again hitting all 46 of his extra points. He helped the Dawgs to a Sugar Bowl Championship and won the Lou Groza Award as the top collegiate kicker in the country.
Blankenship finished his career at Georgia hitting 80/97 field goal attempts (82.5%) and scoring 440 points for the Dawgs. He never once missed an extra point attempt (200/200) during his four years in Athens, and is the all-time points leader in Georgia football history. Yes, he reigns supreme in that category over the likes of Herschel Walker, Matthew Stafford, Nick Chubb and every other player to strap it up for the red and black.
Hot Rod will go down forever as one of the greats in Georgia football history, holding records that will not be touched for a long time.
The Georgia Bulldog community will miss him dearly, as it is time for Rodrigo to pursue his NFL journey.
Quality kickers can often be overlooked when building an NFL team. Colts fans, and all NFL fans will soon learn to respect the specs.
