Georgia fans boo announced starting quarterback

Veteran quarterback Stetson Bennett did not receive the warmest of welcomes when it was announced he would open Georgia’s game against UAB on Saturday afternoon.

When the Bulldogs announced who would be under center for the first possession on the video board, boos rang out around Sanford Stadium, per Georgia reporter Chip Towers. 

Bennett started five games for the Bulldogs last season and went 86-for-155 with 1,179 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions. Yardage wise, his best game was a 41-24 loss to Alabama when he threw for 269 yards, but he also threw three interceptions.

Redshirt freshman Carson Beck was also taking reps with the starting offense before Saturday’s game. Beck’s personal quarterback coach Denny Thompson said on Friday morning that Beck would likely be Georgia’s starter, and that became the dominant narrative around college football until this morning. Beck impressed last spring going 22-for-31 for 263 yards and two touchdowns in the annual spring game.

Conflicting quarterback reports out of Athens this week

After news broke early in the week that last week’s starter JT Daniels would miss the game with an oblique injury, there was a report Saturday morning that Daniels was making a late push to play. 

“Georgia plays UAB,” said ESPN’s Rece Davis on College GameDay. “JT Daniels has the strained oblique. Our friend Mark Schlabach reports that the plan was to start Carson Beck, but Daniels is pushing to play now.”

Daniels went through pregame warmups. Last week he went 22-for-30 with 135 yards in Georgia’s 10-3 win over Clemson.

Daniels started Georgia’s final four games last season when he was healthy enough to return from a torn ACL that he suffered while at USC. In those four games, Daniels was 80 of 119 for 1,231 yards, 10 touchdowns, and two interceptions.

In addition to Daniels, Bennett and Beck, the final quarterback on the roster is true freshman Brock Vandagriff. He is a five-star prospect who comes to Georgia as one of the top quarterbacks in the class. Vandagriff enrolled early, took plays in spring practices, and had 47 yards on nine passes during the spring game.