It’s not quite Poland, but Mark Richt got his kicker.

Then-freshman Blair Walsh struggled with kickoffs at times last season, prompting his coach to say, seemingly only half-kidding, that he might “have to go to Poland or something to find a guy that can kick it out of the end zone” following Georgia’s loss to Georgia Tech last year.

Enter Brandon Bogotay, a junior college kicker who became the Bulldogs’ newest signee Thursday.

“I can’t tell you how many times we watched his video and charted everything,” Richt said. “We feel like he’s got enough leg to compete for that thing.

Bogotay played at Grossmont College in San Diego, Calif., as a freshman in 2008, going 15 of 23 on field goals, the same mark that Walsh put up.

But it was Bogotay’s kickoff prowess that presumably brought him to Athens, as he boomed 20 kicks for touchbacks en route to becoming an all-conference first-teamer last season.

“Every kicking duty he’ll compete for, but if you’ve seen tape on him the obvious thing is that he’s got a very strong leg,” Richt said. “Now can he do it here? I don’t know if the air’s different in San Diego, we don’t know how much the wind was blowing in certain games. There’s just things you just don’t know for sure, but we saw enough to feel like he’s got a chance to get great field position when we kick the ball off.”

“The mindset that I have is they’re bringing him in to compete at both positions and that’s what they’re saying right now,” Walsh said. “I’ve just got to treat it like that.”

Bogotay didn’t start playing football until halfway through his senior year of high school, and actually sent his highlight tape to Athens himself.

“His film didn’t really get out because even his coach was thinking he was going to come back for another year, so he wasn’t sending tape all over the country on the kid,” Richt said. “I believe he sent it on his own. He might have heard that Poland comment.”

After launching his first kick as a Bulldog into the end zone, Walsh saw mixed success kicking off. Eight of his 75 kickoffs went out of bounds, and only four resulted in touchbacks.

Richt has expressed confidence in Walsh’s abilities as a field goal and extra point man, but Bogotay’s signing looks to address what Richt called one of his team’s most pressing needs at the start of spring practice.

“I honestly don’t know what they’re bringing him in for,” Walsh said. “They have their reasons and I still in my mind expect to be the starter on both kickoffs and field goals and that’s how I’m going to treat it.”

After Georgia released linebacker Dexter Moody from his letter of intent just after a week ago, Bogotay becomes the 20th member of the Bulldogs’ 2009 class. Richt said he doesn’t expect to sign anyone else.

In addition to helping Walsh improve, Richt said, a productive kickoff man could help a Georgia defense that started so many drives on short fields in 2008.

“Whether it’s [Bogotay] doing it or Blair doing it or whoever on our campus doing it, if we do it better to the point where we’re getting the ball on the 20, hopefully between the 20 and 25-yard line, 20 and 28-yard line, whatever might be,” Richt said. “If that’s where all the defenses start their drives, we’ll be better than a year ago on defense.”

Quick hits: Wide receiver A.J. Green said he was held out of some of practice Thursday, as he continues to nurse a lingering groin injury. Also, the Bulldogs will hold a full-contact scrimmage at Sanford Stadium Friday.