Brock Vandagriff approaching competition by controlling what he can

ATHENS, Ga. — Brock Vandagriff has the right mindset going into Georgia’s quarterback battle. Growing up less than 15 miles away from Sanford Stadium, it’d be easy for Vandagriff to be overwhelmed by the pressure and desire to earn the starting spot. He knows what it would mean to be the Bulldogs’ quarterback come September 2nd when Georgia takes on UT-Martin in the season-opener. However, he’s not focused on who’s doing the best between him, Carson Beck and Gunner Stockton at practice each day. He’s also not worried about the decision the coaches ultimately make. Vandagriff is instead staying true to himself, a man of faith, and trying only to “control the controllables.”

“I would say it hasn’t really every changed. Everybody’s going to say that they have belief and trust in themself. I base a lot of my life on my faith, and I believe God has a plan for me regardless of where I’m at or what I’m doing. That’s never changed,” Vandagriff said. “I just believe God has a plan for me, and I’m going to be here, do my job every day, do what’s asked of me and control the controllables.”

That motto goes a long way for Vandagriff. His approach to everything from the jump in competition he’s seen transitioning to college from Georgia’s smallest high school football classification to the limited playing time he’s received can be traced back to his attempt to simply take care of his own business.

“I feel like when you think about stuff like that, it’s kind of relative. Maybe you’re at a smaller school like single-A and you’re o-linemen aren’t as good and you’re having to do a lot. Whenever you get to SEC and the d-linemen are a lot better, you’re o-linemen are a lot better too,” Vandagriff said. “Stuff like that. Guys are faster, that was the main thing for me. It’s tighter windows throwing the ball so timing is more important. Your dude is not going to be able to sit there open for three seconds before you get him the ball because he’s going to be covered. Just the game flow, game speed has been the biggest transition, and it helps being able to go against one of the best defenses in the country every day at practice.”

“Not being able to get into games and stuff like that, just with your practice reps, you’ve got to treat everything like it is a game,” he added on his approach to his limited number of live reps. “Whenever we go to Sanford and have the scrimmage in the stadium, those are game reps. You might not be getting teed off on, but that’s probably the only difference. They’re flying around out there, we’re flying around up here and all the calls are the same, and all the signals are the same. So you have to treat that mentally like a game. The shot clock is going to be up there, time is going to be up there, and you’re playing your scrimmage and your practice just like a game.”

Vandagriff didn’t say exactly where he learned the phrase “control the controllables” or how long that’s been his approach, but it’s safe to assume that his father, Greg, probably had something to do with it. His high school coach at Prince Avenue Christian, Brock says his dad instilled values in him that have continued to help him to this day.

“Probably some of the best advice that my dad ever gave me was — it wasn’t really advice – it was just that you have to take coaching,” Vandagriff said. “There were practices where I would be running around the practice field at Prince Avenue for the last 30 minutes of practice after doing something wrong. It’s ’cause I talked back or said something. Just making sure I look my coach dead in the eyes and say ‘Yes sir’ whether you like it or not. If you have the explanation and they were wrong, you can tell them in the meeting room. They don’t want to hear it on the field is the biggest thing that my dad taught me, and it’s helped me because — knock on wood — I haven’t had anything happen like that because I’ve been able to take coaching and just say ‘Yes sir’ on the field and maybe go back in the meetings and ask about it.”

There’s no doubt that has helped Vandagriff with Georgia’s new quarterback coach and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Vandagriff described the first day Bobo took over the room, telling the quarterbacks in there that he was going to coach them hard and not really giving them much of a choice about it. That tough love from Bobo probably has been amplified even more during a quarterback battle between a trio of talented options. Even still, Vandagriff is only focused on himself and being the best quarterback possible.

“It’s something I try not to think about. Like what I said earlier, control the controllables is a big thing in my life. Heck, you can’t control what other people are doing. You can’t control the reps you get, the reps they give you. Go in there, do your job, do your best and hopefully good things follow,” Vandagriff said. “It’s just what you come here to do. I mean, you come to UGA for competition. I knew that coming in. Coach Smart, he’s going to put the best guy out there. He’s going to give the best guy that gives Georgia the best chance to win, he’s going to be out there. It’s just being in this competition, it’s a blessing and I feel like I’m going to be a better player for it regardless of the outcome.”

“So with my mindset, what I put into that was that I’m learning stuff and getting better under Coach Monken and now Coach Bobo,” the former five-star added about sticking around Georgia despite not playing as much as some might have expected. “If I wasn’t getting reps and I wasn’t getting better then yeah, I would have left. But being able to know that my game is getting better mentally and physically, and I’m learning so much about the game of football and I’m going against one of the best defenses, one of the most fast-paced defenses in the SEC and the nation, I was becoming a better player for that. So that was some of the main reasons. I was being a better player for it.”

The outcome of Georgia’s quarterback battle is still far from being decided. The Bulldogs have two more scrimmages this spring, including the annual G-Day spring game on April 15th, plus plenty of time during summer workouts and fall camp for the best option to emerge. Even then, with the schedule Georgia faces early in the season, Kirby Smart might decide to carry the battle into its 2023 campaign to see how the competitors handle live action. Either way, one thing’s for sure about the way Vandagriff is going to approach things. He’s going to give his best every day and control the controllables.