Georgia quarterbacks left with room to grow after first scrimmage

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s quarterback battle is taking center stage this fall as the Bulldogs look to replace Stetson Bennett, and that was certainly the case after the team’s first scrimmage of the fall. Head coach Kirby Smart knocked comments on the quarterbacks out of the way in his opening statement knowing he’d get asked and still had a couple more questions come his way on the trio that’s competing for the starting job.

Smart was reserved in his judgement on the quarterbacks, not singling out any of them individually. As he often does after games, he’s anxious to watch the tape to dive deeper into the days of the three. One things he’s certain about though, Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton all could have been better.

“I know you guys are going to ask about the quarterback position, but I can’t tell you anything until I watch the tape. I can tell you that I’d like to see all three of them play better, but the people around them have to play better,” Smart said. “When you evaluate a quarterback and you say, ‘Well, he threw an interception.’ Well, he hit a guy in the hands and it bounced through his hands and got intercepted. Obviously we can judge there. If there’s seven drops in the scrimmage because of wet hands and heat, then you evaluate that. But I don’t think any of those quarterbacks would tell you they played their best game.”

Beck and Vandagriff got the majority of reps with the first team reportedly. That makes sense considering the experience advantage that they’ve got over the redshirt freshman Stockton, who has yet to appear in an actual game. Meanwhile, Stockton was working primarily with the twos and threes.

In Georgia’s G-Day spring game, the third of three scrimmages the Bulldogs had in the spring, Beck ran with the first team for the entirety of the first half while Vandagriff and Stockton split reps with the twos. He threw for 211 yards and a touchdown on 13-of-18 passing in that action. Then, in the second half, Vandagriff got his chance with the ones while Stockton served as the primary second-team quarterback. Vandagriff was a combined 13-for-25 for 175 yards, two touchdowns and an interception while Stockton went 13-for-22 with 144 yards and a turnover. Both Vandagriff and Stockton were recorded as taking three sacks each while Beck did not take one.

Of course G-Day doesn’t matter anymore and the Georgia coaches have something new to judge the quarterbacks on. Beck and Vandagriff have both had strong days in practice while Stockton reportedly was impressive on Saturday. Smart said after the scrimmage that he’s been pleased with the way that the quarterbacks have operated the offense up to this point in camp. Once again though, their ability perform goes hand-in-hand with the rest of the players on that side of the ball.

“You’ve got to remember that all three of them were in it last year and have been in it for a while. The verbiage doesn’t change so, like, they know and can execute the offense. The players around them have to make plays, and they have to avoid catastrophe situations,” Smart said. “You know, we have a defense that causes havoc. We have a defense that can be disruptive and disguise, and there’s going to be a play every now and then that you’ve got to get us to the next play. You don’t have to make a Superman play — you’ve just got to get us to the next play. I don’t think that Carson or any of those quarterbacks don’t understand what we’re trying to do offensively or what we do to execute. They need 10 people around them functioning at a high level, and a couple of those 10 to make some explosive plays for them.”

Georgia, who was ranked No. 1 in the preseason Coaches Poll this past week and is expected to do the same in the AP Poll on Monday, opens the season three weeks from today against UT-Martin (Sept. 2nd 6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN+/SECN+). The FCS opponent is followed by one from the MAC in Ball State the very next week.

Whether or not Smart names a starter before then remains to be seen. Considering the competition, it’s not all too unlikely that Georgia rotates all three of its quarterbacks to get them all some game reps – something the head coach has been adamant about the importance of in deciding the quarterback battle. Either way, Smart comes out of this Saturday knowing one thing: growth is going to be necessary.

“We need each one of them to get better to get where we want to go,” Smart said. “A lot of that’s got to do with cutting down some of the offense, deciding what we want to use and really focusing in on that. That wasn’t today’s goal. Today’s goal was to find out who’s got some toughness and who can push through.”

“Consistency. Accuracy, consistency. Those are the things that always come out,” Smart said when asked what it is he’s looking for. “If you’re accurate in our offense, you’re going to have some easy, free throws. Decision-making on third down. We’re going to be put in some third and 10, third and six, third and eight situations. What you do on first and second down, it’s a shot – it’s either there or it’s not. It’s either a boot or a naked – it’s there or it’s not. It’s a run play, and that’s not a lot of control from the quarterback. It’s going to come down to who’s accurate, makes good decisions on third down and who can be explosive.”