Georgia Tech kicker Shawn Davis cleared to return

ajc.com

Credit: Danny Karnik

Credit: Danny Karnik

Georgia Tech kicker Shawn Davis shared his good news with Twitter followers Wednesday, announcing that he had been medically cleared to begin kicking again. Davis, a walk-on from Union Grove High, tore his ACL in the Miami game in October while covering a kickoff.

“Finally got cleared to start kicking again today after 7 months of knee rehab,” Davis wrote on his account.

Davis was expected to be ready for the start of preseason training in August. His clearance does give him the summer to re-acclimate and prepare for competition with sophomore Brenton King, the Mill Creek High graduate who battled in the preseason last year before Davis won out.

After Davis’ injury, King took over and was 5-for-6 on field goals, but struggled with kickoff distance, perhaps hampered by a preseason groin injury.

Tech kicker Shawn Davis supported by Harrison Butker, Ryan Rodwell

Before the knee injury, Davis was 2-for-4 on field-goal tries. The two misses likely are not hard to remember for Tech fans, both in the double-overtime loss to Tennessee in the season opener. He and King were similar in average on kickoff distance (59.8 yards for Davis to 59.2 yards for King), but Davis recorded eight touchbacks on 27 kickoffs compared with one in 24 kickoffs for King.