Getty Image / Eakin Howard
The #1 ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs landed a generational talent in freshman kicker Peyton Woodring who pulled off a truly unbelievable kick during warmups for the Dawgs.
Peyton Woodring has been quietly flying under the radar as the only freshman in the nation who ranks in the top 25 in scoring. He’s currently 8th with 119 points and will likely move up the ladder with only two kickers in front of him on this year’s NCAAF individual scoring list.
A viral video from UGA Sports shows just how impressive the freshman kicker from Louisiana is. Here he kicks it from the back of the end zone on an even parallel with the goal posts but manages to thread the needle out and in so the ball goes through the uprights. It shouldn’t be possible but here we are:
@ugasports.com Georgia freshman Kicker Peyton Woodring (who is No. 7 in the nation in scoring)
♬ original sound – Georgia Bulldogs scoop – Georgia Bulldogs scoop
Kicking is a role that is heavily influenced by confidence. When kickers start doinking it off uprights and missing easy kicks those memories seep into their brains and it leads to more missed kicks.
I’m hard-pressed to think of a better way for a kicker like Peyton Woodring to build confidence than this drill. It tests his accuracy *and* precision while ensuring he isn’t left with the lasting memory of a ball doinking off the uprights. More kickers should be attempting this in warmups even if it breaks the laws of physics.
Throughout the 2023 College Football season, Peyton Woodring has been a proper ringer for the Georgia Bulldogs. He’s 20-23 when kicking field goals and a perfect 59-of-59 on extra points.
Georgia’s 8th in the nation in points scored this season with 475. Peyton has accounted for almost exactly 25% of his team’s points this season.
As a senior in high school, Peyton was ranked as the #1 kicker in the country and made a 60yd FG:
The only kickers who have accounted for more points than him are at UNLV and Texas. And the only other freshman on the top 50 scoring list this season is kicker John Love at Virginia Tech. It isn’t hard to imagine a world where Peyton goes on to set Georgia kicking/scoring records if he keeps up this pace.