KNOXVILLE – Right off the heels of Trey Smith’s announcement of his return to Tennessee for 2020, the Vols received more good news on Friday as kicker Brent Cimaglia made his decision clear on his Twitter account.
The junior Nashville native will return for his senior year, postponing his pursuit of being an NFL kicker for one more year.
Vol Nation, pic.twitter.com/SKc1QsVeFz
— Brent cimaglia (@bmancimaglia) January 10, 2020
Cimaglia emerged as one of the best kickers in the SEC in 2019, converting on 23 of his 27 attempts with a long of 53. Cimaglia was a perfect 35 of 35 on extra points and is currently Tennessee’s all-time leader in field goal percentage at 83.3%.
The junior did not handle kickoffs for Tennessee in 2019, a duty that was managed by sophomore Paxton Brooks.
Cimaglia was recruited to Tennessee by Butch Jones as part of the class of 2017, and appeared in five games as a freshman during the Vols’ 4-8 2017 season that saw Jones fired.
The rising senior had the best season of his career in 2019 under special teams coordinator Kevin Sherrer, and will return as one of the top kickers in the SEC in 2020.