Georgia Tech’s punting situation remains unclear. Coach Paul Johnson said after Wednesday’s practice that the punter for the Yellow Jackets against Vanderbilt Saturday will be determined over the course of the remainder of the week.
Tech will have one more practice Thursday. Coaches are choosing between Ryan Rodwell, who took every punt for the Yellow Jackets in 2014 and 2015 but was replaced by walk-on Grant Aasen for the Mercer game. Johnson put the job up for grabs after Rodwell did not kick well against Boston College in the season opener.
“We’ll see how it goes the rest of the week,” Johnson said. “We’ll have one.”
In his only punt against Mercer, Aasen had a 42-yard kick, but it traveled only about 30 yards in the air past the line of scrimmage before rolling to a stop. Rodwell went back on the field for the third-quarter play that resulted in the successful fake punt. Tech scored, lost possession on fumbles or ended the half on the remaining possessions.
“He’s just got to be more consistent,” Johnson said of Rodwell. “He’s got a strong leg. He can kill the ball. You’ve seen it. At times, he does that and then at the most inopportune time here comes a 15-yarder, so you’ve just got to be consistent.”
Johnson was able to find one advantage of the punting shortcomings.
Said Johnson, “It’s hard to figure out where to put the punt returner against us.”
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