Peyton Woodring: How the freshman kicker earned SEC honor after a clutch performance in Auburn

The ‘Dawgs already knew all about Peyton Woodring. DawgNation had to find out a little more about him on Saturday night in Auburn.

Woodring drilled two clutch field goals Georgia desperately had to have in the 27-20 comeback against their oldest rival in the Deep South.

The Lousiana native split the uprights on a 37-yarder in the second quarter to tie the game at 10. He was called on again to provide the ‘Dawgs a 20-17 lead with 10:57 left to play.

The SEC honored Woodring with the SEC Co-Fresham of the Week honor for those efforts.

Those were the definition of confidence kicks for Woodring and for a fan base that would have been chewing fingernails even if Jack Podlesny or Rodrigo Blankenship had been back there. The ‘Dawgs were teetering on the verge of an upset loss on the road in the SEC.

Those moments were compounded after seeing Woodring miss three of his five field goal tries this year against Ball State and South Carolina, respectively.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart knew what he could do. There was a level of excellence Woodring needed to reach in fall camp to beat out a senior kicker with immense leg strength in Jared Zirkel.

When a freshman can do something like that, it reflects their worth. Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked about Woodring’s showing after the game.

“Yeah big, man,” Kirby Smart said in Auburn. “We’ve been putting a lot of pressure on him in practice, but I don’t know if that simulates it. There’s nothing that simulates what he had to do today. I told the team after the game.”

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