The Boot of Thomasville plays in Blue-Grey All-American Game

Dec. 25—THOMASVILLE — Aa a freshman wide receiver behind now Mercer signee Cole Shaw, Thomasville's Andrew Bennett didn't think he had much of a shot at seeing the football field. So he decided to leave football behind, but soon discovered that he missed it. Upon his return to the gridiron, Bennett's father encouraged him to return to the team with value. At the time, the Bulldogs didn't have a true punter and Bennett had played soccer for most of his life and decided that was where he fit. Now, as a senior, Bennett is ranked the number 26 punter in the country and just had an incredible performance in the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl in Dallas inside the Cowboys stadium.

"It was awesome, honestly," Bennett said. "It was a a really cool experience to be able to play in an NFL stadium and really just the practice and getting to meet all of these guy across the country."

To be selected for the All-American Bowl, Bennett had to go through a gauntlet of camps and show why he is one of the best high school punters in the nation. It started with a Kohl's Kicking camp in Atlanta. Kohl's Kicking, which is the premier camp for kickers, punters and long snappers, is in charge of selecting the punters for both the Blue-Grey games and the Under Armor All-American game. Bennett's performance at the regional camp in Atlanta earned him a spot at the national camp in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

At the national camp, Bennett showed out and was selected as one of eight punters in the country to play in one of four All-American games.

"It was awesome. I was honestly very surprised, because I'm ranked number 26 in the country so, I was kind of like I probably won't make it" Bennett said. "I didn't realize that for their selection they take into account your rank, but then they also take into account your actual game footage."

In Dallas, Bennet had the opportunity to play with some of the best athletes in the country and show off his powerful leg in front of scouts. Bennett had a remarkable performance in Dallas averaging 44.3 yards per punt with a starting field of 20.3. 50% of Bennet's punts landed inside the 20 and three of them were downed inside the five. His longest punt of the day was a booming 62 yards.

Bennett has not been widely recruited as of yet, but it is safe to say that with a performance like that on a national stage the boot of Thomasville is going places.