Our list of top 10 kickers entering the 2026 Georgia high school football season are the best in the state when the game is on the line, and they’ve proved it so far during their careers.
Many of our top kickers also serve as their teams’ punters, so we took into consideration their combined talents and how those skills contributed to their success.
1. Aaron McWilliams | East Coweta | C/O 2027
Aaron McWilliams tops our list for the best overall kicker/punter heading into the 2026 season. McWilliams serves as both the kicker and punter for the East Coweta Indians and was named to the 2025 MaxPreps Junior Preseason All-America Team prior to last season.
He’s a Kohl’s 5-star rated kicker and punter in the Class of 2027 and is the No. 8 overall ranked punter and kicker in the country by Kohl’s.
So far this offseason he has competed in several kicking and punting camp competitions, winning the field goal competition at the University of Tennessee camp and the punter competition at the University of Cincinnati.
He’ll be entering his senior season this year as a member of the Class of 2027 and currently has offers from Georgia State and Texas State.
2. Ryan Jung | Milton | C/O 2028
Milton kicker Ryan Jung is a 5-star rated kicker by Kohl’s Kicking, who also have him rated as the nation’s No. 1 kicker as he heads into the 2026 season with the Eagles. Jung transferred to Milton from IMG Academy this offseason after a sophomore campaign that saw him connect on 4-of-5 field goals and 50-of-52 extra points. He also handled kickoffs for IMG with 36 touchbacks out of his 66 kickoffs.
He has already received a full scholarship offer from the University of Michigan.
3. McCarty Harrelson | Troup | C/O 2027
Our No. 3 ranked kicker/punter is “Money” McCarty Harrelson of Troup County. The Class of 2027 specialist has been Troup’s kicker and punter the past two seasons, and he’ll wrap up his high school career this season before taking his talents to Georgia Tech after committing to the Yellow Jackets earlier this offseason. Georgia Tech has recruited Harrelson primarily as a punter, but if he continues to kick this upcoming 2026 season as well as he has the past two seasons, that could open the door for him to do both on the Flats.
4. Tyler Baradel | Marist | C/O 2027
Marist kicker Tyler Baradel had some of the most memorable kicks of the 2025 season, including his last-second game-winning field goal in the Class 4A quarterfinals to beat defending state champion North Oconee. He also connected on a 51-yard field goal attempt the following week in the semifinals against Benedictine. Those were just two of the 12 successful field goals he connected on out of 16 attempts last year. Baradel was also successful on 29-of-30 extra point attempts in 2025. His kicking helped Marist to a 12-2 record and a trip to the Class 4A semifinals.
5. Oliver Buckley | North Oconee | C/O 2027
Ollie Buckley is a Class of 2027 kicker for North Oconee and is a 5-star rated kicker by Kohl’s, who also have him ranked 11th best in the country.
Buckley was named the Region 8-4A Special Teams Player of the Year for last season. As a junior, he was successful on 5-of-6 field goal attempts in 2025, as well as converting 58-of-60 extra point attempts (the other two no-good attempts were actually blocked).
Of his 76 kickoffs last year, 69-of-76 resulted in touchbacks.
6. Carter Allen | Bremen | C/O 2027
Carter Allen of Bremen made all but one of his field goal attempts last season, successfully connecting on 8-of-9 attempts. His longest was from 52 yards, and the one miss was an attempt of over 50 yards. Allen is also one of the state’s top punters, averaging 41 yards per punt. Kohl’s Kicking ranks Allen as a top-10 punter in the Class of 2027 nationally.
7. Leif Hansen | Sequoyah | C/O 2027
Leif Hansen of Sequoyah is the No. 15 ranked kicker in the nation for the Class of 2027. One look at his stats from last year explains why. He successfully connected on 10-of-12 field goal attempts last season, with both misses coming on attempts longer than 50 yards. His longest was from 49 yards. He was 100% successful on all 10 attempts from inside the 50-yard line. He was successful on 85-of-92 kickoffs for touchbacks, while he was successful on 64-of-66 extra points.
Hansen has received scholarship offers from the Naval Academy, Army, and the Air Force Academy.
8. Patrick Coyle | Glynn Academy | C/O 2027
Patrick Coyle is one of the most effective dual threats with his leg as the punter and kicker for Rocky Hidalgo’s Glynn Academy Red Terrors.
Coyle is heading into his senior season in 2026 coming off a junior season where he was named the Region 1-5A Special Teams Player of the Year for his kicking and punting duties.
He had a 44-yard punting average last season on 25 punts, with his longest being 58 yards. He pinned 5-of-25 punts inside the 5-yard line and was successful on 30-of-31 extra point attempts.
He was 2-for-3 on his field goal attempts, with one being a walk-off game winner. He put 88% of his kickoffs (39-of-44) into the end zone for a touchback last year.
Coyle is a Kohl’s 4.5-star rated kicker.
9. Mitchell Bainbridge | Holy Innocents’ | C/O 2027
Mitchell Bainbridge is a Class of 2027 kicker/punter for Holy Innocents’ and is coming off a successful junior season in 2025 where he converted 9-of-14 field goal attempts, including 100% on his attempts from inside 49 yards. He also had one attempt blocked. Bainbridge put 29-of-58 kickoffs into the end zone for a touchback and finished the year with a 34.6-yard punting average, with 16-of-44 punts downed inside the 20-yard line. He was named an All-State punter and kicker by Recruit Georgia following his 2025 season, while also being selected as the Region 5-2A Special Teams Player of the Year and an All-State selection for Class 2A.
He won the Chris Sailer Spring Kicking Camp earlier this year with field goals of 52 and 58 yards.
10. Brady Palma | Brookwood | C/O 2027
Brookwood kicker/punter Brady Palma was a First Team All-Region 7-6A selection for his performance last season.
He made 7-of-9 field goal attempts with his longest from 49 yards. He was successful on 47-of-48 extra point attempts. He averaged 35.3 yards per punt on 27 punts last year with a long of 64 yards.
He had 23-of-46 kickoffs result in touchbacks.
Palma will be a senior this year.
