The narrative on Cameron Nizialek is he just picked Georgia on his own, showed up in Athens two years ago, and the eventual SEC and Rose Bowl champions had their starting punter drop into their lap. But that’s actually not true. And it offers some lessons on why Kirby Smart’s program operates the way it does.
Advertisement
The real backstory: Nizialek was graduate transferring from Columbia, an FCS school, after the 2016 season. And as obscure as he might have seemed, he was already on Georgia’s radar. James Vollono, then a special teams analyst, had known Nizialek through the kicking community and reached out to him. Nizialek also was talking to Clemson, which had invited him to attend the South Carolina game two days after Thanksgiving. That was a night game. Georgia played at noon just over an hour’s drive south. Why don’t you stop by here first, Vollono asked Nizialek, who agreed.
“And I actually talked to Kirby for like 20 minutes before the Georgia Tech game that year,” Nizialek recalled last week. “So, yeah, I think Kirby downplays his role in me coming there a little bit. But they definitely wanted me to come. Now, obviously, I wasn’t on scholarship, so it just kind of looked like I showed up. But they were definitely interested and wanted me to come from the beginning.”
The first lesson here is why a program gets an edge over the competition by having analysts. You never know when a staffer might have connections that will lead to getting a key player.
But the other lesson is on graduate transfers: Nizialek showed why grad transfers, even walk-ons, can be valuable. That’s why Georgia, even though it has had mixed success with grad transfers lately, is dipping liberally into that market again.
Two grad transfers from Power 5 schools have announced their intention to come to Georgia this season — receiver Lawrence Cager from Miami and tight end Eli Wolf from Tennessee. Long snapper Steven Nixon from Mercer also is coming as a walk-on. They will all be immediately eligible — without the need for an NCAA waiver — thanks to the graduate transfer exemption, which has been in effect since 2006.
Advertisement
Georgia, before and after Smart’s arrival, has signed at least one grad transfer every year since 2015. Sometimes they have made a big impact: Maurice Smith from Alabama was Georgia’s defensive MVP in 2016, Greyson Lambert from Virginia was the starting quarterback in 2015 and Nizialek was a revelation and special teams weapon in 2017. Other times the impact has been minimal: Jay Hayes from Notre Dame was not a starter last year, and kicker David Marvin from Wofford also was a backup. (But his presence may have gotten the best out of star kicker Rodrigo Blankenship, who had to beat out Marvin for the job.)
Nationally, grad transfers have made even bigger impacts, starting with Russell Wilson at Wisconsin in 2011 and with Jalen Hurts (from Alabama to Oklahoma) being the prize grad transfer of this offseason. The trend this decade is remarkable: There were only 17 grad transfers at the FBS level in 2011, according to the NCAA, but six years later there were 168.
As for this offseason, there already had been 92 football grad transfers as of Thursday morning, according to the website gradtransfertracker.com. Many more have yet to commit or even announce they will graduate transfer. The same website lists more than 100 players either with the intention or potential to grad transfer. (None of the listed potential grad transfers are Georgia players, but that could always change in the coming months.)
It’s easy to understand why teams recruit grad transfers: They’re experienced players who can plug a hole on the roster or even have a major impact. Call it free agency if you want, but the arrangement works well for both parties.
“The biggest thing was just getting used to the team and used to how things were operating,” Nizialek said. “But it’s definitely a lot different than coming in as a freshman, where you’re the guy in high school, and you’re thrown into these players that are probably more physically mature, more mentally mature, more ready to be on the field. It’s different because I think the grad transfer rules allow you to get players who are ready to play at a very high level.”
Advertisement
Georgia signed Cager and Wolf to shore up the depth at two positions that were hit by attrition this offseason. So, what exactly are the Bulldogs getting in those two players?
Here is the perspective from the writers who covered each of them for The Athletic:
Former Tennessee TE Eli Wolf (from David Ubben)
“When Jeremy Pruitt first saw Wolf last year, he thought he was one of the trainers or managers. On the field, the first impression wasn’t much better, as Wolf struggled to block. But by the end of spring, he had improved so much, and his attitude and work ethic had impressed so much that Pruitt selected him to be one of Tennessee’s three representatives at SEC media days.
“Wolf’s attitude and work ethic impressed his new coach and earned Wolf a ticket to represent the program at last year’s SEC Media Days. Now, Wolf might be the first player in history to transfer a year later. His attitude never changed, but his opportunities did.
“The Vols brought in the nation’s No. 1 JUCO tight end a year ago, Dominick Wood-Anderson. He emerged late in the season as a strong (pass-catching) threat and figures to get most of those reps in passing situations this season. H-back Austin Pope challenged Wolf for playing time in blocking situations last year, but the Vols brought in a pair of blocking specialists at tight end, Jackson Lowe and Sean Brown, in this year’s recruiting class that figured to cut even deeper into Wolf’s time on the field.”
Lawrence Cager (from Manny Navarro)
“Lawrence Cager was a big, surprising addition to Al Golden’s last recruiting class at Miami in 2015. At 6-5, 220 pounds, many believed he would eventually develop into a big, go-to target — especially in the red zone. But injuries early on and struggles with drops never allowed him to reach his potential at The U. Poor quarterback play obviously didn’t help him. But Cager was just too inconsistent. There were balls he acknowledged he should have come up with.”
Note: You can read this story on Cager by Navarro last year.
Those are the on-field scouting reports. But what about the transition to a new program after spending your career at a previous school? What is it like to parachute into a team where most players arrived as freshmen and have grown together?
Advertisement
Nizialek said the most important path to acceptance is being able to play, and being able to show it. But Nizialek also was helped by the situation in Georgia’s locker room: That 2017 team was renowned for its good leadership, where the best players also were good leaders.
“Those guys were all extremely welcoming,” Nizialek said, singling out Roquan Smith. “I got lucky because Roquan became one of my best friends on the team, and he’s obviously the best player. So, he helped me fit in with the team. It also helps if you perform well.”
(Top photo of Cameron Nizialek by John Cordes / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
