Austin Kent is looking for a new start at a new school. Gavin Stewart has a brother whom just about all Georgia Tech fans know. Jude Kelley was named the national high-school kicker of the year.
On Saturday, one or more of them likely will take the field for kickoffs or placekicks when the Jackets open the season at Florida State. The onus will be upon them to improve upon Tech’s kicking-game woes from last season.
The three kickers were put on coach Geoff Collins' “Above the Line” chart this week ahead of three other kickers on the roster, meaning that they’ve been judged ready to contribute on the field. (The chart does not specify which of the three will be on placekicking duty or handle the kickoffs.) Kent, who transferred from UCLA after punting there, last played in a game in 2016. For Stewart and Kelley, both freshman walk-ons, it would be their first college games.
“I’m so happy for him,” former Tech wide receiver Brad Stewart said of his younger brother making the ATL list. “I know he’s super excited.”
Kelley is from Allatoona High in Cobb County, joining a line of college kickers who played for the Buccaneers, including Skyler Davis at Elon. It gave Kelley a high standard, but he rose to meet it.
“It was something he worked really hard at, and over the first couple years, as he was getting bigger and stronger, you could tell he was very talented, very accurate,” Allatoona kicking coach Erik Fridborg said. “It wasn’t something that was difficult for him. And then, I would say, when he took over the starting job as a junior and then as a senior, he just really kept getting better. The distance, the accuracy, it just kept improving, like you could see he was very good at this.”
As a senior, he turned in what the Marietta Daily Journal called “arguably the best kicking season in Cobb County history” – 19 for 25 on field-goal tries, with a long of 54 yards, and he made all 49 of his point-after tries. He also averaged more than 42 yards a punt.
“Kickoffs, I think every kick was a touchback,” Fridborg said. “There’s no issues there.”
He was named the winner of the Chris Sailer Award, which is given to the top high-school placekicker in the country. (The 2018 winner was Ryan Fitzgerald of Colquitt County High, now at Florida State.) Despite that, Fridborg said that recruiting interest was slow at first, although Air Force, Troy and Connecticut all showed interest, among others. But, Fridborg said, Kelley set his heights higher, wanting a shot at “more of a big-time school.” Tech pursued him as a preferred walk-on.
“I can’t speak for him, but what it seemed like to me, he really fell in love with Georgia Tech when he went to the campus,” Kelley said.
Kent, from Charlotte, N.C., signed with UCLA in 2016 and immediately won the punting job, but lost it after seven games and then punted in one more game after that. He was not able to win the job back for the remainder of his time at UCLA, with injuries a factor, according to his private kicking coach in Charlotte, Dan Orner.
In March, with the pandemic shutdown, he returned to Charlotte. And, while he hadn’t played in a game since 2016 and was to graduate in May, he trained with Orner out of a desire to try to complete his career on his terms.
“I think ultimately, I felt like, and he felt like his best football was ahead of him now that he was healthy,” Orner said. “He had a lot of time in the offseason and, I think as a perfectionist, he had some voids he wanted to fill in terms of goals.”
He first began working on his kickoffs and Orner said he got Tech’s interest when he sent coaches video of him consistently putting kickoffs five to seven yards deep into the end zone. His mis-hits, Orner said, were still carrying to the 1-yard line. For a team that was last in FBS in touchback percentage last season, it was undoubtedly intriguing, and Kent committed as a walk-on.
While still in Charlotte, while Kent was strictly a punter at UCLA, Orner said he jumped into a field-goal session with high-school kickers and was highly accurate.
“He said, ‘I haven’t kicked a field goal in, like, six months, but I feel like I’m not overthinking it,’” Orner recalled. “'I feel kind of like a golfer at Top Golf. You’re hitting some of your best shots when you’re nice and smooth and you’re not thinking.'”
Kent’s best opportunity may be on kickoffs, but, given the precarious nature of the season, he would do well to be ready for placekicking or even punting. A second act begins.
“It’s definitely a journey,” Orner said. “And some days, it’s just one foot in front of the other, as long as you keep moving.”
Stewart came to Tech as a preferred walk-on from Savannah’s Benedictine Academy, where he played wide receiver, safety and kicker. He was 9-for-9 on field-goal tries, with a long of 47 yards, and made all 55 of his point-after tries.
He also played basketball and soccer and followed his brother in winning the Ashley Dearing Award as the most versatile boys high school athlete in Savannah, a prize Brad won twice. Their sister, Sarah, a soccer and volleyball star, won the girls version. She now plays volleyball at Georgia College.
“It’s just great to see them being successful,” said Brad, who graduated from Tech in 2019 with a degree in mechanical engineering and is a consultant with Accenture. “We always competed as younger brother and sister growing up. Needless to say, they’re starting to outgrow my talents now.”
To this point, Stewart has been kicking but also helping at wide receiver when asked. His kicking has benefited from the focus he has been able to put on it. In high school, as he also played wide receiver and defensive back, he had less time to work on his technique than he does now.
“He’s had so much time to focus and prepare for it, so he’s a great person for the job, and he’ll get it done,” Brad said.
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