Georgia head coach Mark Richt leads the team huddle before taking on Clemson in 2014. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
UGA was a finalist this morning for a commitment from one of the country's top-rated kickers. Arizon State, Michigan and Penn State all made the final group for Michigan kicker Quinn Nordin on Friday morning.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound prospect decided on Penn State in a ceremony at his high school stadium on Friday.
Nordin was rated the nation's top-ranked kicker for the 2016 signing class by KornblueKicking. He drilled a 65-yard field goal off the ground while training in South Florida earlier this year.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound kicker visited UGA for a game last season, and he was on the Bulldogs’ campus last month for another unofficial visit. He loved everything about both visits. Michigan and Penn State were seen as the favorites to land his commitment. Nordin had recently had Michigan images as his Twitter background over the summer.
“Michigan is where all of my buddies think I’m going to go, actually everyone thinks I’m going there,” Nordin told the AJC on Thursday. “Maybe, maybe not. Georgia is a school I would keep my eye on tomorrow.”
He was credited with four kickoffs during an evaluation session which went 75, 75, 77 and 81 yards. His shortest kickoff during that session still traveled 64 yards. Nordin is regarded as a high-level athlete who could also punt in college. He will forego a promising lacrosse career to play major college football.
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That makes it the second time UGA has lost out to a quality specialist recruit to the Nittany Lions this summer. Highly-regarded Georgia punter Blake Gillikin commited to Penn State after having UGA in his final group.
Jeff Sentell covers UGA recruiting for AJC.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on who’s on their way to play Between the Hedges.
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