Clemson football kicker Jonathan Weitz's perfect game vs. South Carolina is a story of redemption
COLUMBIA — When Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney brought former backup kicker Jonathan Weitz back to the roster after Week 3, he said it would either go great or terribly. For a while, it looked like it would be the latter.
Weitz had spent four seasons as a walk-on backup to star kicker B.T. Potter and had never attempted a field goal. He was enrolled in graduate classes at Clemson but was living in Charleston and preparing to start a corporate job in New York when Swinney called on him to return and ease some of the Tigers' early kicking woes.
But Weitz missed a 29-yard potential game-winner in his first game against Florida State, and it looked like Swinney's kicker experiment might be a failure.
But a second-chance career that started with that low point ended on a high note: Weitz went 3-for-3 on field goals in Clemson's 16-7 win over rival South Carolina on Saturday, outscoring both offenses. Every one of his field goals — A 50-yarder, a 49-yarder and a 42-yarder — were longer than any he had made previously.
Even better for the in-state kicker: He was critical to the Tigers' win, which gave them revenge after last season's 31-30 defeat at home.
"I played in national championships and was on teams in the playoff and lost those games, but the one that I remember is walking off the field a loser to the Gamecocks," Weitz said. "To come here and do this, it's special."
Weitz never imagined he'd have one more chance at the Gamecocks, and after his up-and-down season, most people probably didn't expect he'd be one of the game's heroes. Weitz hadn't found any consistency in the kicking game, entering the game 8-of-14 in his eight games.
He had gone 1-for-2 on field goals in five of his nine games and 0-for-1 in another. He was 2-for-2 against Miami and 1-for-1 against Notre Dame. Through all of it, Swinney kept turning to Weitz and didn't go back to Robert Gunn III.
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Weitz still has his New York job waiting for him. He indicated he plans to kick in the bowl game before heading off into the workforce, so he might have one more game in him.
But for a South Carolina native who grew up a Clemson fan, the unique story of a career resurrected, gone awry and then redeemed couldn't have had a sweeter regular-season ending.
"It's a dream come true," Weitz said. "I can't tell you how many times I've been out on the field with my dad in Charleston, practicing in high school or middle school or whatever it was, saying, 'This is the one to beat the Gamecocks'.... It was a cool, cool moment to be able to be a part of such a cool thing."
Christina Long covers the Clemson Tigers for the Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@greenvillenews.com.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football kicker Jonathan Weitz's unique story ends perfectly
