Georgia quarterbacks take center stage during G-Day

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia quarterbacks were the center of attention during Saturday’s annual G-Day spring scrimmage, and it was a mixed bag of results. Carson Beck and Brock Vandagriff both gots reps with the first-team offense at times during the game. Meanwhile with the second team, Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton split snaps during the first half before Vandagriff and Beck switched spots for the final two quarters. Stockton stayed with the second-team the entirety of the contest.

Beck had the best day of the group, completing 13 of his 18 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown in the first half working with the first team. He added 20 yards on 2-for-4 passing in the second half leading just one drive for the Black Team. As for Vandagriff, he completed 13 passes in total for 175 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Stockton rounded things out with his own 13 completions on 22 attempts for 144 yards, a rushing score and an interception as well.

“It’s hard because I’ve got to go back and watch the tape as always,” Smart said when asked to evaluate the play of his quarterbacks. “I thought both of them (Beck and Vandagriff) had good composure, good pocket presence. I thought Brock used his legs several times to break out of there and take off running. Brock unfortunately had some guys drop the ball on him. I thought the balls were really well thrown and should’ve been caught. He did a nice job in the pocket of making those throws. And then Gunner did some really good things. I was really pleased with all three quarterbacks. What you saw today was similar to what we’ve seen all spring. We have three really good quarterbacks who can make the throws and do a really good job. I was please with those guys.”

Beck and Vandagriff both spoke with reporters after the game. They knew how things were going to be split up before the first snap was taken. It didn’t come as a surprise to them like it might have fans tuning in to see the two options to replace Stetson Bennett. Smart said that the devision of reps was similar to what it had been all spring in fact. Beck got the most snaps with the ones because he’s been in the system the longest. Still, Vandagriff got some – and Beck did too with the second team – while Stockton worked primarily with the second team and sometimes the third.

“The key is they all get to develop,” Smart said on the topic of reps for the quarterbacks. “I can promise you there’s no quarterbacks in the country getting as many reps as ours are because we’ve got enough defensive linemen and offensive linemen to have three units, sometimes four units. And in fall camp, we’ll have four. And when you have four units, you’re able to get twice as many reps. I’m very pleased with the amount of reps. We count reps in between days of practice. They’re getting better and the only way to get better is to go out there and practice and get reps. Some universities can’t give the reps we can give them because they don’t have the reps.”

Instead of having to worry about when they’d be on the field and when they’d be watching from the sideline, the clarity coming in allowed all three to focus on their play. For Beck, that provided comfort, something he said he’s picked up throughout spring continuing to work more and more with the wide receivers. It showed early on as he completed eight of his first nine passes to eight different pass catchers.

“I guess just execute each play,” Beck said when asked what his focus was for the day. “Really all G-Day is is an intrasquad scrimmage that people get to come watch. Just have fun. There’s nothing that you really need to stress over, have fun, execute each play as it comes … We’ve got a lot of guys that can get it done. Really just executing the offense, taking what the defense gives me and moving on from that.”

“It was good. I felt like everything was working,” he continued. “Bobo was really dialing it up. I told him that after when we talked. He was dialing it up, we were executing, guys were getting open, guys were catching balls, guys were making plays. It’s really easy whenever we’re doing that and executing on all levels.”

Things didn’t seem to come as easily for Vandagriff. In the third quarter while working with the first team offense, five straight attempts of his fell to the ground. He didn’t complete back-to-back passes in the second half until the final drive of the game. However, he didn’t let that throw him off.

“You’re going out there going up against great defenses either team you’re on, Red or Black. At the end of the day, you’ve got to put the ball in the hands of the same color you’re on,” Vandagriff said. “Going out there, however they split up the reps, you’re just trying to move the chains in whatever reps you get. That was my mindset going into today.”

“My dad asked what my goals for today were, and I said, ‘I’m probably going to get these reps, here, here and here.’ At the end of the day, I just want to move the chains. Whatever jerseys the dudes to my left and right are wearing, throw it to them and move the chains,” he added. “We’re splitting reps in practice, and I’ve thrown to those dudes all practice. If there were any bad throws that’s on me. I know what they’re going to run. I wish I could have put the ball in a little better places than I did sometimes, I put the ball in the other team’s hands one time, but other than that, I feel like I had a pretty solid day throwing to the Red guys or the Black guys.”

As was the case coming into Saturday’s spring game, the competition between Beck and Vandagriff – and Stockton as well – is ongoing. Nothing was decided before G-Day, and things won’t be after it either. While there’s absolutely an evaluation that’s going to be made from the action that occurred, continuing to get better is all Smart wants to see both do. Both Beck and Vandagriff believe they did that this spring and can continue to do so headed into the summer.

“I’d say I’m content with the way I attacked and approached throughout spring, approached the competition part of it really just trying to focus on myself first and foremost and better myself in the areas I think I can improve,” Beck said. “I think the biggest thing is continuing this connection with the wide receivers. It’s a lot of guys that came in with me and we’ve been throwing since I was a freshman, but the little intricacies and different routes, how to run different things against different coverages and tiny things that will make us better and more explosive on offense … We already started a little bit of that in January and February, but certain days whenever we have off or don’t have a scheduled meeting we’ll come in, come throw by ourselves, no coaches and that’s really where we can attack three or four different routes each time we go out there and throw to perfect the little things.”

“Overall I think I had a pretty good spring. Being able to build on each practice before and being able to learn from them, today I’m not sure what my numbers were but I feel like I was in the right place most of the time. I could have had a little better accuracy, and that’s probably due to me having some nerves,” Vandagriff added. “My focus would be just learning more football. In high school it was kind of just, ‘Look out there, those guys are probably going to be open, and if he’s not open, take off and run.’ You can’t do that in college. There’s d-linemen that are as fast as me. So being able to learn more about the game, whether that’s what we’re doing at Georgia, seeing that in the summer and the fall or what we’re going to do against teams we’re playing next year, learning more about the game of football will help me be more quick in my decisions so my arm doesn’t have to make up for being late sometimes.”

Next stage in the competition comes this summer when the coaches are more hands off and it’s on the quarterbacks themselves to improve. Working with the various pass catchers in 7-on-7s and individual drills, both will have an opportunity to come back for fall camp in a position to compete for the job once again and make their final push for the starting spot come September.