Kirby Smart shares what he's looking for, what he's seen from Georgia quarterbacks

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s quarterback battle is the biggest story of the spring, and that was certainly the case after the Bulldogs’ first scrimmage. According to Kirby Smart, Carson Beck and Brock Vandagriff split reps with the first team during Saturday’s action at Sanford Stadium. Gunner Stockton took some with the twos but primarily worked with the threes as he tries to make his case to be the starter come September.

Things weren’t completely live, but to see the quarterbacks go through the offensive operation without coaches on the field was an important step in the process of figuring things out.

“I don’t think the dynamics have changed,” Smart said. “Brock and Carson are both getting reps with the ones. Gunner got some reps with the twos, predominantly threes, but our threes are in a better state. There are times where you have your threes and they couldn’t function. This three group has really good skill players in it. We’re not used to having this many wide receivers on our threes so he had some good guys to throw to, the offensive line with the threes has some experience – a couple of walk ons – but it functions so you can evaluate Gunner better where there’s not always a chance to do that with the threes.”

“I can’t sit here and say that the dynamic has changed in any way shape or form,” he continued. “I think we’ll evaluate this scrimmage and come back in on Monday and be able to say, ‘Okay, what did they do well or poorly with no coach on the field?’ It’s still a tough evaluation because there’s probably ten plays out there in the scrimmage where I have to say a guy got sacked. Well, did he get sacked or did he not get sacked because we didn’t tackle? So you give the benefit of the doubt to the defensive player that’s standing there unblocked, but they actually have to get them on the ground. Until you tackle a guy live, which we’re not going to do, it’s not going to give you a true evaluation.”

Beck, Vandagriff and Stockton come into the spring with various levels of experience. The oldest of them – Beck – has appeared in 12 games during his three years, throwing 58 career passes for 486 yards and six touchdowns. He served as the backup last season. Vandagriff’s action has been limited to just five games with no completions on three attempts in two years while Stockton did not appear in a game as a freshman in 2022. Despite the varying time spent on the field, Smart is looking to see the same thing from each of them.

“Demeanor and communication. I can get the stats. A true quarterback is a decision-maker in our system because some systems take all the pressure off the quarterback and they just go really fast. We don’t do that,” Smart said. “We’re a quarterback-driven offense, so can you process the information — that means get the signal, get people lined up then see what the defense is in and figure out are we in the right situation? Which of these three choices that Coach Bobo is giving me am I going to utilize on this play? And then the play happens. There might be a mistake or a breakdown, and you not go full metal jacket and have catastrophe mode and put us in a bad situation.”

“So, decision-making is the number one thing I want to see at the quarterback position,” he continued. “Can you make consecutive decisions over and over that don’t cost our team games? Because we have enough playmakers and we have enough plays that you will make a play inevitably. Don’t make a boneheaded play, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

As for how the quarterbacks did at that today, Smart said there were ebbs and flows. Each of them did good things and countered with a couple of things they might like to have back.

“I can think of really good things each one did and I can think of really poor things each one did. So, it’s not like one guy is sticking out,” Smart said. “Carson has really good command of the offense. He understands it inside and out. He communicates it, gets things correct. He had a couple of poor decisions and choices today, but he also made some plays. He made some really good throws. He has really good presence in the pocket to move around. Brock made some plays. He made some plays getting out of the pocket. He made some good throws. He had a couple of downfield throws I think he wish he had back, give us a chance in some 50-50 situations and keep the ball in bounds with that, but he did a really good job in two minute and then Gunner made some plays. Gunner made some plays with his feet. He’s still, the administration of the offense and getting everybody lined up, getting going, getting the call in, which is not all on in, he’s growing and getting better. He made some nice throws. I’m going to keep repeating myself, but we’ve got three pretty good quarterbacks. They’ve grown each one of them and they’re all three different in their own right.”

The quarterbacks will have two more weeks to show Kirby Smart and the coaches what they bring to the table. Nine practices down with six to go, Georgia will go through two more scrimmages including the annual G-Day spring game at Sanford Stadium, set for April 14th at 4:00 p.m. on ESPN2.