When Brent Cimaglia was seeking a transfer destination after graduating from Tennessee, the kicker had a salesman on the inside at Georgia Tech. The testimony of punter and kickoff specialist Austin Kent, himself a grad transfer from UCLA, helped convince Cimaglia to transfer to Tech.
“I’ve known him since eighth grade,” Cimaglia said Thursday. “And really just hearing his stories about how fun Georgia Tech was, it was an easy decision.”
Cimaglia entered the transfer portal in late January, announced his decision to enroll at Tech in February and arrived in the summer. Using the extra season of eligibility provided by the NCAA because of COVID-19, he has one season remaining. His experience and accuracy over four seasons with the Volunteers (he made 46 of 62 field-goal tries) figure to be a boost for Tech, which has been 3-for-8 each of the past two seasons. He was 4-for-4, with a long of 48 yards, in the team’s scrimmage Saturday.
“From Austin being my holder to Cade Long being the snapper to coach (Brent) Key setting up the line and the protection, I think we have a very good unit this year,” Cimaglia said. “Can’t wait to go out there first game and put some points on the board.”
Cimaglia spoke highly of the team environment at Tech, which guard Ryan Johnson, also a former Volunteer, had told him about. Cimaglia was skeptical before visiting.
“So I came down, and it was just amazing,” he said. “From the coaches to the players to the school to academics, everybody was just amazing. Really friendly.”
Cimaglia said the locker-room environment is significantly different at Tech compared with Tennessee.
“We’re a lot closer,” he said, speaking of Tech.
Cimaglia is eager to do his part. He said that he spoke Wednesday with coach Geoff Collins about his range. Cimaglia said that if the offense can cross midfield – which would be a 67-yard field goal; his career long is 53 yards – he’s ready to go.
“Honestly, if Coach calls me out there, I’ll attempt anything,” he said.
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