Ray Drew blocked two Georgia Tech placement kicks on Saturday. And he said almost got one more — the 53-yarder that got the Yellow Jackets into overtime.
“I felt the wind off the ball,” the senior from Thomasville said. “May have even tipped the last one a little. Might could’ve had a couple more.”
As it was, Drew had one whale of the game, his last between the hedges. The 6-foot-5, 284-pound tackle finished with nine tackles on defense.
But it was on special teams that Drew’s presence was especially felt. His first block came with 12:37 to go in the second quarter on Harrison Butker’s 37-yard field goal attempt.
The second came at the most critical moment possible. Drew blasted through the middle to blocked Tech’s point-after try after the Yellow Jackets took a 30-24 lead in overtime. As a result, the Bulldogs were set up to win on their first overtime possession.
Said Georgia coach Mark Richt: “A lot of heroic play by our players to the very end. Ray Drew blasting through to block that extra point put us in position to win in overtime. And it was because he just cared. That would’ve been a glorious way to end it for him, a senior.”
“I was in the A-gap and just kind of went through the shoulder of the guard. I tried my best to stay off the center and came through. I got some pretty good knock-back on the guy. I got two but if you go back and look at it I feel like I could’ve had another one. I felt the wind off the ball, may have even tipped the last one. Might could’ve had a couple more.”
Drew said he also came close on another Tech extra-point attempt earlier in the game.
“The coaches teach us all the time, an extra point or a field-goal is not a play off,” Drew said. “It’s not gimme-points. It’s points they’ve got to earn and I was going to do everything in my power to make them earn what they got today.”
