ATHENS -- Ask Jake Camarda about his success punting the football for Georgia this season, and he spends little to no time talking about ball-drop or launch angle or hang time. He said his secret, above all else is taking care of body and soul.
When elite athletes attribute their success to God, the tendency of media and fans is to sort of tune them out. But there’s something different about Camarda’s testimony. He delivers it in a sort of genuine and unforced way, not unlike the manner in which the ball seems to effortlessly fly off Camarda’s right foot.
He was asked late last week what, if anything, he could attribute his tremendous improvement to this season. At the time, his 50.73 yards per punt led the nation. He’s officially second after Saturday’s bye.
“Yeah, um, I think there’s a lot of things that you could contribute that to. I personally would just say that, you know, I’m not able to do anything out there on that field if it isn’t for God, like my Lord and Savior,” Camarda said in a matter-of-fact way. “If it wasn’t for Him, No. 1, I wouldn’t be able to be here. I wouldn’t be on that field at all. So, I’m giving all the glory to Him.”
Of course, that was pretty much unacceptable for a grizzled media corps. Certainly there must have been some sort of powwow with a kicking guru or a revelation involving contact area or shoe brands.
There must be an earthly explanation for the kind of exponential improvement Camarda has exhibited since showing up at Georgia from Norcross three years ago. His average has improved four yards a season since then. Also going up has been the number of fair catches and balls downed inside the 20. Simultaneously there has been a decrease in touchbacks, which generally are a bad thing in a punter’s world.
Pressed for something, Camarda arrived at physiology.
“I’m taking care of my body. I’m definitely making sure that I’m always feeling good for games,” said Camarda, the picture of fitness at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds. “I’m making sure that I’m not over-kicking in practice, doing the right amount of stuff in practice to be ready on game day. I think that’s something I’ve really tried to take account with this year and really tried to focus on a little bit more. Other than that, really just trusting the process, trusting myself and the abilities that God gave me and all of that.”
For Camarda, it genuinely all begins and ends with God. His teammates say he somehow emits joy and contentment. He is described a lot of ways, including quirky, goofy and funny. But the last thing associated with Camarda is anything having to do with uptight or nervous.
His fellow Bulldogs use words like cool and calm.
“You don’t really see much fear in Camarda,” said sophomore safety Lewis Cine, a member of the punt team. “I feel like that’s really a guy you want to go into tough games with. You know he’s going to come through. He doesn’t fear much or worry much. He loves the word of God. So, you know, he’s a very cool guy off the field.”
There’s that “cool,” then there’s the other kind of cool. Camarda is hip. He’s the one dressed in wild colors for prom. He’s liable to do anything with his hair, whether it’s on his face or his head. He loves music. He loves to play golf and watch golf. He’d apply to be president of any Tiger Woods Fan Club.
But Camarda switches all that off when he steps between the lines. He gets especially intense and excited when the Bulldogs find themselves backed up. He loves the chance to “flip the field” and usually does. That’s evident in his game-high numbers for each of Georgia’s four games this season -- 63, 63, 64 and 58 yards. Camarda has 40 punts of 50 or more yards in his career and 12 of more than 60.
“I will definitely say Camarda has become a weapon in terms of his ability to hit really long punts,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “I think we’ve got to be careful that we don’t outkick our coverage at times, and his distance has to match his hang and he’s got to hit his field zones. But he knows those things are important, and he is a weapon in terms of his leg strength. We knew about that when we recruited him.”
Camarda was Mr. Everything in the kicking world coming out of Norcross High. Kohl’s Kicking rated him a 5-star as a place-kicker and punter and the No. 1 kicker/punter. He was ranked the nation’s No. 2 punter by 247Sports and was named an Under Armour All-American.
Camarda won the punting job at Georgia as a freshman, but consistency was an early enemy. Way too many of his good punts sailed through the end zone for touchback, and he had way too many bad ones sail out of bounds as shanks.
That also is where Camarda’s faith came in handy.
“There’s definitely been times earlier in my career where I may have gotten, you know, a little frustrated here and there,” Camarda said. “You know, ‘I think that I can compete better than this; I know I’m better than this.’ But, again, really I think one thing I did, every single night is I would just tell God I was just thankful to have this opportunity, to be out there having the opportunity to play football. And I knew no matter what happened, it was all hHis plan for me.”
From there, Camarda quoted Proverbs 3:5-7 almost verbatim. He likes to rock a little Matthew 6:25 about not worrying.
That said, he’s also intensely and intently works on his craft. That’s what Camarda’s teammates see each day.
“Jake’s full of confidence, full of juice,” Cine said. “On the field he shows that he’s confident because of preparation and what he’s doing in practices. What do you have to fear? What do you have to be afraid of? You do what you do every day in practice. When games come he’s very relaxed, very calm. He just does it freely. So, I’m happy for him and enjoy that he’s shows that swag in games.”
No sense in asking Camarda where he thinks that “swag” comes from. You already know.
“God has been my rock throughout freshman, sophomore and junior year,” he said. “And I give my accomplishments all to him. And, also, I just have great teammates and coaches that really support me. So, yeah.”
CAMARDA’S PUNTING
Year Avg. Long TBs FCs In20 Blks
2018: 42.6 63 8 16 10 0
2019: 46.8 67 9 12 25 0
2020: 50.7 64 2 8 10 0
