DUMBALK North’s Brett Thorson received national coverage again in America on Sunday this week, although this time it wasn’t for more punting heroics with his high-ranking NCAA College Football Team, the University of Georgia.
While Georgia missed the National semi-finals this year, on the back of a narrow loss to arch-rivals Alabama, 27-24 in the 2023 SEC Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on December 2, 2023, they did appear in the time-honoured Orange Bowl season finale against Florida State at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Saturday, December 30 (their time).
Many will remember, back in November 2022, when Thorson scored world-wide coverage for the 10th longest punt in College football history, a strike that ran 75 yards, but spectacularly rolled out at the one-yard line, and was dubbed as the “most perfect kick in College history”.
This time, however, it was Thorson’s fingers rather than his boot that did the talking, with his reaction to the news that star Georgia quarterback, Carson Beck, had re-signed with the Bulldogs to play his senior year next year, despite offers rolling in from the NFL.
Letting out a popular Aussie expletive, Thorson asked jokingly “Does anyone have the link to the transfer portal”.
Thorson, who punted just 31 times for a 43.7-yard average this season, and no returns, has waged a humorous feud with his quarterback in recent times over the fact that Beck is so good, the talented kicker doesn’t see enough on-field action.
It’s something that goes with the territory on a team that has been on a run of 50 wins from 54 matches in recent years, including back-to-back national championships, one of which, last year’s, Thorson played a key role in.
But his limited game time continued to be a feature of last weekend’s Orange Bowl game, when Georgia put on a record-breaking score of 63-3, for a history-making margin of 60 points, allowing Thorson to take the field only once, when he pealed off a 48-yard shot late in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs swapped players off the sidelines in an effort to give everyone some game time in what was a rout against a depleted Florida.
The timing of these December ‘bowl’ games has been seen as unfortunate in recent years, rated as little more than exhibition games at the end of the real season when the top players are looking to get drafted and college interest has already turned to recruiting.
However, having ended the regular season on a sour note, with Alabama snapping the Bulldogs’ 29-game winning streak, and controversially assuming their place in the top four playoffs, Georgia wanted to end on a positive and they certainly did that.
Having been named on the 2023 Ray Guy Award Watch List for punting glory this year, Thorson will continue on with Georgia in search of redemption next year. Georgia has won the second-most number of college championships in the competition’s history.
Taking a keen interest in the Orange Bowl game back home on their Dumbalk North dairy farm were parents Glenn ‘Jacko’ Thorson and Andrea Thorson, unable to get across for the big game after Glenn had an operation on his shoulder recently.
“Yeah, it was a bit of a blow out but there’s a tremendous amount of interest in college football over there,” said Glenn at the weekend.
“We went over in October and saw three games, two at Sanford Stadium in Athens where there was a crowd of more than 90,000 both times and also in Tennessee where they packed in more than 102,000.
“So, it’s quite an experience.
“They don’t have the country sport like we do here, so the college football attracts a huge amount of interest.”
Glenn said Brett will likely get another two seasons in college football, after being granted an additional year due to the pandemic impact, and has been assured of at least one of those years, on scholarship at Georgia where he is studying a Communications Degree.
Fitting then, that he should gain notoriety on social media.
The dream for Brett is clearly an NFL career but with clubs typically taking only three or four new kickers annually, it’s a tough ask.
Maybe a career in communications will ultimately be how it plays out for Brett but with a national championship ring on his finger, he’s already in exclusive company back here in Australia.