Joel Klatt reveals he didn't know what to do with Georgia when ranking early top 25

Joel Klatt debated a lot on where to place Georgia in his top 25 rankings for the 2025 college football season. Ultimately, the FOX Sports analyst landed on the No. 8 spot.

Klatt explained on the Monday episode of his podcast that he wanted to put the Bulldogs higher due to the level of success they have achieved the past few years under Kirby Smart. Georgia has a 53-5 record over the past four seasons, winning national championships in 2021 and 2022.

That is difficult to ignore and there’s little reason to doubt that the Bulldogs will again be in line to compete for a title in 2025. However, there are a few more question marks than in recent years, particularly at the quarterback position where Gunner Stockton is set to take over.

“I didn’t really know what to do with them,” Klatt admitted. “I wanted to put them higher just because. Then you actually look at it and you’re like ‘eh.’ …Think about the standard at Georgia right now. They won 11 games, won the SEC and yet the season was a giant disappointment because they didn’t win the national championship. That’s where Kirby Smart has put Georgia. You can’t go to the quarterfinals and lose to Notre Dame and it be a success at Georgia, unfortunately for Kirby. He, in a lot of ways, is becoming the standard bearer.

“So Kirby is gonna turn, at quarterback, to Gunner Stockton. It’s his show. There’s a lot of opinions about Gunner Stockton. ‘Oh, he played great in that matchup against Texas in the SEC Championship and did serviceably.’ This is a team that I think is gonna have to win because their roster is better than other rosters. Gunner Stockton might turn out to be a really elite, quality player. Have I seen that yet? Eh. Again, I don’t know. This is a trust with Georgia.”

Stockton is getting ready to enter his fourth season in Athens and spent the past two years as the primary backup to Carson Beck. But with Beck transferring to Miami, Stockton will get the opportunity to take over the reigns as a full-time starter for the first time.

He stepped in to lead the Bulldogs to an SEC Championship win against Texas this past season after Beck went down with injury. Stockton also started in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal against against Notre Dame, which Georgia lost.

Klatt pointed out that the Bulldogs brought in some receivers through the transfer portal that should help with the transition at quarterback. Stockton could still end up having a great year, but he’s too much of a question mark at this point to justify ranking Georgia higher.

“They brought in some wide receiver help, which should help because their wide receiver corps was a huge hindrance for them,” Klatt said. “Led the country in drops. In a lot of regards, the wide receivers held this team back immensely. So they brought in Zachariah Branch from USC, Noah Thomas from Texas A&M. That should help this. Those guys are reliable guys.

“You can bank on Georgia being dominant on defense. I don’t care if you’re losing players into the draft. That’s just what they do. Kirby’s a defensive guy. They recruit well. They develop well. Again, I wanted to put them higher, I just couldn’t. Part of the reason is there’s some teams ahead of them that I believe in, in particular the quarterback, a little bit more.”