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- The quarterback situation at Georgia is more complicated than it would normally be.
- While a national champion is returning, three players who are or could be better in the long run are also trying to compete.
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Georgia’s starting quarterback for 2022 should be clear. The Bulldogs are returning Stetson Bennett, who led the Bulldogs to a CFP National Championship win over Alabama last season. He should be the starter.
However, that is not the case. In fact, the quarterback picture is extremely muddied.
Georgia has four quarterbacks on the roster this season and three of them are “higher-rated” prospects than Bennett. Could someone else come in and win the job over the super senior? It’s very possible.
Brock Vandagriff, a former five-star recruit in the Class of 2021, looks really good in his offseason workout videos. Carson Beck, a four-star prospect who was named Florida’s Mr. Football in the Class of 2020, is also considered a top prospect with more experience than Vandagriff.
Behind the two of them is four-star in-state prospect Gunner Stockton from the Class of 2022. He will likely sit behind the three ahead of them and redshirt.
As a result of the depth, Georgia and head coach Kirby Smart has a lot of talent at quarterback. And while that is a good thing, it makes things very difficult.
Kirby Smart is evaluating Georgia’s quarterback situation in spring practice.
The Bulldogs opened spring ball earlier this week and, thus, the quarterback battle began. Bennett, Beck and Vandagriff will each make their case to be QB1 for the defending national champions while Stockton will learn the collegiate game.
While Smart is not upset by the wealth of talent, he says that it poses a difficult situation. How can Georgia get all four guys enough reps?
“Looking to develop each and everyone,” Smart said. “I think all four of those guys are in different spots. You can go all the way from Gunner just getting here to Stetson being 23, 24 years old an having seen a lot of football. So they’re in different spots, all four guys.”
However, while the emphasis is on development in the spring, Georgia is facing a challenge that hinders developmental opportunities.
“The biggest challenge for us for the spring is to get reps and develop, because we don’t have the depth at the skill positions, receiver and defensive back and even tight end, to be able to do some of the things we liked to practice-wise,” Smart said. “So we’re trying to be innovative, creative in the way we practice, because quarterback development is critical.”
As a result, there is a lot of creativity involved.
“So if you have quarterbacks that aren’t able to get reps, how do they get better? So I’m big on challenging our staff to be creative in the ways we rep those guys, who goes with what groups, how many reps a week you get, what percentages,” Smart said. “We want to see these guys get better. It’s easy when you have three groups of offensive linemen. They all get work. But you might have four quarterbacks, and it’s hard to get those guys enough work. Wanting to see those guys improve. They can’t all play, so it’s a matter of growing them to get them in a position to where they can be successful.”
As of right now, Bennett is the incumbent starter. By the time that the team’s spring game is held on April 16, there will be a good sense of who is winning the Beck/Vandagriff battle and how far they need to go in order to have a chance at beating out Bennett as the starter.