MOULTRIE – The place-kicking Fitzgerald brothers continued to add to their honors in December.
Younger brother Brett Fitzgerald, who just finished a record-setting four-year career at Colquitt County, was named Georgia’s Kicker of the Year by Score Atlanta.
He also was named the 2024 Vereen Sports Medicine Special Teams Player of the Year at the 17th annual ITG Next South Georgia High School football banquet.
This season, the two-time MaxPreps All-American set the Georgia record for career extra points, with 228, and career kicking points, with 369.
He kicked 47 field goals in his career.
During his career as Colquitt County’s kicker, the Packers went 41-9 and won three region championships.
Older brother Ryan Fitzgerald, in his final season as Florida State’s kicker, has been named a first-team American Football Coaches Association All-American.
He was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, which annually recognizes the nation’s most outstanding collegiate kicker.
He also has been invited to play in the Senior Bowl, which will be held on Feb. 1, in Mobile, Ala.
Also, this month, Ryan graduated from Florida State with his master’s degree in accounting.
Of this and that:
• Former Packer Nyquann Washington started in the secondary for Western Michigan in the Broncos’ 23-20 loss to South Alabama on Dec. 14, in the Salute to Veterans Bowl In Montgomery, Ala.
Washington is a redshirt junior who played the last three seasons at Tennessee Tech.
He played in all 13 games for the 6-7 Broncos this season and was credited with 23 solo tackles and eight assists. He had 2.5 tackles for loss and five pass breakups.
Washington finished his Colquitt County career with 11 interceptions, which ties him for third all-time with Jay Ward and Robert Collier and behind only Anthony Bridges, who has 17, and Dextra Polite, who has 13.
• Another former Packer who played in a bowl game is Omar Daniels, who was credited with three solo and one assisted tackle in Georgia Tech’s Friday 35-27 loss to Vanderbilt in the Birmingham Bowl.
Both teams finish 7-6.
• Dijmon “Baby D” Wheeler, who last played for the Packers in 2020, is now a freshman performing for Nebraska-Kearney.
A wide receiver, he caught 23 passes for 258 yards and one touchdown for the Lopers, who play in the NCAA Division II Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
The Lopers went 5-6 this season, 3-6 in the conference.
Wheeler originally signed with Western Kentucky, but did not play in a game before heading to Nebraska.
• Senior Ty French played his final game for West Virginia in the the Mountaineers 42-37 loss to Memphis in the Dec. 17 Frisco Bowl.
In his only season at West Virginia, French was credited with 22 tackles.
French was a four-time first-team All-Big South Conference selection at Gardner-Webb before transferring to West Virginia this season.