Tennessee football kicker reveals transfer destination to ACC school

The first game Brent Cimaglia ever dressed out in for Tennessee football was the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game in 2017 in Atlanta, Ga. at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Vols beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 42-41 in double-overtime.

Now, four years later, Cimaglia is joining that team he dressed out against. The 6’0″ 210-pound product of Fred J. Page High School in Franklin, Tenn. whose hometown is Nashville, Tenn. makes the move after three and a half years as the starting place kicker on Rocky Top.

Cimaglia’s decision to leave Tennessee football for another school in the south follows punter Joe Doyle’s decision to transfer from the Vols to the Memphis Tigers. He announced the news Sunday on Twitter.

After missing the last two games of 2020 and revealing he had been dealing with an injury all year, Cimaglia revealed his decision to enter the transfer portal in late January, just after the Vols had hired Josh Heupel as head coach. In response, Rocky Top added USC Trojans graduate transfer place kicker Chase McGrath.

In 2019, Cimaglia earned All-SEC honors for the Vols after making 23-of-27 field goals and both attempts from beyond 50 yards. That included a 53-yarder against the UAB Blazers, the longest made field goal for a Vol since Jeff Hall in 1995.

However, due to injuries, Cimaglia struggled in 2020. He missed his first extra point of the season and was only 5-of-9 on field goals, going 1-of-3 in the 30 to 39 yard range. Although he made another 50-yarder, the regression was clear.

With Cimaglia and Doyle both gone, Tennessee football will have a new starting place kicker and punter than it had throughout the 2018 season and the beginning of the 2019 season. Paxton Brooks is the favorite to be the starting punter, a job he has held since the end of 2019, and McGrath is probably the favorite to be the starting place kicker.