STATESBORO —
On a beautiful Saturday in South Georgia, The Citadel learned that having someone who is automatic on the extra point is a good thing.
On the same day Georgia Southern celebrated homecoming, the Eagles blocked a pair of extra points to take a 14-12 victory over the Bulldogs, and once again coach Jeff Monken said he was blessed to have a kicker like Dalton’s Adrian Mora and the extra-point unit in front of him. That’s because when it comes to points after touchdown, Mora is better than a 100-percent, money-back guarantee.
The former Catamount is now a perfect 139-for-139 on PAT attempts in his college career and has scored in every game he has played for the Eagles.
“We don’t have a Southern Conference player of the year on special teams, so I nominated him for offensive player of the year because he is worthy,” Monken said following the win over The Citadel. “That is what he means to this team and to the success of this team.”
Mora said he has been happy to be just one more contributor to the Eagles’ 8-1 record. Georgia Southern is ranked No. 3 in the FCS Coaches poll and No. 4 in The Sports Network/Fathead.com poll. With the win over The Citadel and Furman’s 20-10 victory over Appalachian State — the only team to beat Georgia Southern this year — this past weekend, the Eagles can still claim the Southern Conference title with a victory at Wofford on Saturday.
“We fundamentally have a great head coach who knows the importance of special teams just like coach (Ronnie) McClurg did at Dalton,” Mora said. “I don’t care about publicity and could care less about any of the fans knowing my name. Most people remember kickers for the mistakes in special teams. If no one knows my name, then I am doing my job.”
People do know his name, though, because he does his job exceedingly well.
A 2007 graduate of Dalton, Mora was a four-time selection to The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Team and the school’s nominee for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award. He made a pair of 54-yard field goals in his senior year.
Even back then, McClurg had confidence that Mora’s success would continue after high school.
“I really pushed him hard to several Division I schools, and when (former Georgia Southern coach Chris) Hatcher got the job, all of the D-I schools all wanted him to come as a walk-on, but they didn’t have scholarships,” McClurg said. “Fortunately for him, Coach Hatcher had already seen him because Valdosta State had been involved in recruiting him.
“That was the biggest catch of the signing class for Georgia Southern that year, in my eyes. He has really paid off and won several games for Georgia Southern and is the weapon as a kicker that you are looking for.”
During his freshman season of 2008 — he redshirted in 2007 — Mora missed the first three games of the year before becoming Georgia Southern’s full-time kicker and was 31-for-31 in PATs while making 10 of 12 field goals, with a long of 42. In his sophomore year, Georgia Southern’s offense struggled in Hatcher’s final season and Mora’s numbers reflect that. But he made all 19 of his extra point attempts and connected on 16 of 22 field goals, with a college career-long 50-yard field goal in a win over Wofford.
Last year, Mora gained national attention after nailing 45 consecutive extra points and being named the College Football Performance Award’s placekicker of the year. He was the team’s leading scorer for the third year in a row with 102 total points.
Earlier this year against Elon, Mora had a 27-yard field goal to set the career record for field goals made at the school. Mora’s 52nd broke the record of Tim Foley, a member of the Georgia Southern Athletic Hall of Fame, and he now has 56 career field goals. In addition, he is on pace to break the Football Championship Series (formerly I-AA) career field goal percentage record.
He was also named the Southern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after scoring 12 points in a 50-20 win over Furman, including a season-long 49-yard field goal. He now has six field goals of 45 yards or longer in his career, and if he remains perfect on PATs, he would be the only player in NCAA history with more than 120 attempts to never have a miss.
While he is focused on his duties as Georgia Southern’s kicker, Mora hasn’t gotten caught up in the records or the accolades. He’s got other things that he is focused on.
His most pressing concern? Georgia Southern’s Masters of Business Administration program. A fifth-year senior, Mora completed his bachelor’s degree in finance this past spring and is now enrolled in the MBA program, which is made up of night courses and online classes. Just like in the classroom, Mora said he concentrates on one thing at a time on the football field.
“One game, one kick at a time,” he said. “That helps you stay on focus. You have to take it just one play at a time and think about what you can do to help the team each play.”
It is that mental toughness that McClurg spotted almost from the time he met Mora as a freshman on the Dalton practice fields.
“One of the things that separates kickers is mental toughness, and he has the mentality to handle the pressure,” McClurg said. “He is a fantastic weapon and the kicking game is so important. He has made a difference in so many games at both the college and high school level.
“The thing I am most impressed with about him is his character and his attitude and the attitude toward his teammates. He gives all of the credit to those around him.”
Georgia Southern has won six national championships and 18 Southern Conference championships in the program’s 30-year history. And while many names have been part of that legacy, one thing this team doesn’t have is a “big” name player.
“We don’t have that one player of an (Adrian) Peterson or a Tracy Ham or a Raymond Gross,” Mora said, showing off his knowledge of Eagles history. “We depend on each other more as a team. That is great to know that we don’t have to depend on one guy. Each week it is someone else stepping up to make a play or lead the way.”
But while the players have changed through the years along the banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek, the goals have not.
“You hear about the great teams of the past and all of the tradition here at Georgia Southern,” he said. “We want a national championship to be part of our legacy, too. At the beginning of the year, we sat down and talked about our goals and winning a national championship was the last one. We are in position.”
Another legacy he is proud of is the tradition of Dalton Catamount football, and that is seen in this year’s current team with cousins Julio Mora at kicker and Eder Mora at linebacker. While he hasn’t been able to see a game this year, he still keeps up with what is going on in his hometown.
“When I go back, I try to see as many people as I can, but it has been tough to get back,” Mora said. “Hopefully, I will get a chance to see the team play if they are still playing on Thanksgiving and I will get a chance to visit. Mostly, I keep in touch now with Facebook. I always keep in touch with friends and family. I try to keep up with how things are going.”
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