Pressley Harvin III, averaged 48.0 yards per punt in 2020, breaking Rodney Williams’ single-season Georgia Tech record of 45.64 yards (1997). Not only was Harvin’s season record-breaking at Tech, but it solidified his reputation on a national scale.
Harvin captured the 2020 Ray Guy Award, which recognizes the nation’s top punter in collegiate football.Before Harvin moves on to punt on Sundays as a pro, he’ll graduate with a degree in business administration with a concentration in general management. The Alumni Magazine recently had the opportunity to catch up with him. The following responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How do you feel about winning the Ray Guy Award?
It’s definitely an honor—particularly this year, because 2020 was all over the place with Covid, and other stuff that’s been going on. We didn’t even know if we were going to play the season. To win the award, and to become the first African American to win it, makes me feel kind of like a trailblazer.
Q: Former Georgia Tech Punter Rodney Williams was a mentor to you. How did you meet and what wisdom did he pass along to you?
Lucius Sanford, IM 78 (the former Tech standout linebacker, and executive director of the GT Letterwinners Club), put us together. I haven’t had the opportunity to meet Rodney in person yet. We talked every now and then, and more this year than prior years. He motivated me to continue to be the player I could be on the field, and the person I could be off the field. Rodney’s a real good guy. He also helped pave the way for me. He was an African American punter, too.
Q: Given your size (6-foot, 255 pounds) it's hard to imagine coaches not trying to put you as linebacker. How did you end up becoming a punter?
I started punting in the seventh grade. Nobody really wanted to punt. I really started taking punting seriously my freshman year of high school. At that time, I was also playing tight end. I had to make a hard decision about what I wanted to do. I think I made the right one. Punting has continued to bless me and my family with all the opportunities I’ve been afforded.
Q: You're known for booming punts that hang in the air forever, how do you deliver such impressive hang times?
That came with a lot of practice and having my frame. I have powerful legs. By refining my technique, and continuing to work, the hang time eventually came. When I was younger, I tried to kill the ball. But I worked on my technique. That helped improve my hang time. If I know my team needs a bigger hang time ball, I can do it, and put it in the right place.
Q: What was your favorite moment during your Tech playing career?
Has to be the touchdown I threw to Nate Cottrell on a fake punt against Miami (during the 2019 season). We practiced that play all week. Next thing you know, Coach Collins called it. I’m like, “Oh crap. I’m kind of far back.” I just did my best to put that ball on the money, and it was definitely there. At first, I thought Nate dropped it because I couldn’t see it. When I saw the ref put his hands up to signal touchdown, I went crazy. That play helped sway the game our way.
Q: How has your Tech experience been?
I appreciate my classmates, being around their brilliance, as well as learning from my professors.
Tech is diverse. It’s a real mixed community, and I like that. Finally, there’s the experience of being at Tech, in downtown Atlanta. Tech is one of only a handful of schools in the country located in a big city, where you can take advantage of the city.
Tech's Golden Punter
Pressley Harvin is the second Tech punter to win the Ray Guy Award. Durant Brooks, Mgt 08, was the first when he won in 2007.Brooks remembers that “just being in the conversation” to win the award “was awesome.” “And then you go and win it,” he says. “It just meant that much more knowing that nobody at Tech had won it before.” At the time, Brooks wasn’t thinking about winning the award, but about playing for his teammates. “I’m sure Pressley was not thinking about that as a goal he wanted to have as an individual. Football is such a team sport that you have to have other people helping you out to get there.”For Brooks, winning the Ray Guy Award means more to him now than it did when he was a student.“To bring home a piece of hardware and have it there in the [Tech] trophy cases is meaningful,” says Brooks, now father of two daughters. “The fact that it will always be a part of Tech history, and that my kids can see the award [at Tech’s Edge Center], is really neat.”
Brooks hasn’t met Harvin or been able to “kick with him,” he says, but Harvin’s performance has impressed him. “What he’s done is a testament to his ability to work on his craft when everything is shut down, and drill, drill, drill,” Brooks says. “I’ll tell you what, it paid off.”—Bill Chastain
