ATHENS — Chaz Chambliss knows Brock Vandagriff better than most of his Kentucky teammates.
Chambliss lived with Vandagriff — as did Brock Bowers and Cash Jones — when they were all together in Athens. Each player signed as a member of Georgia’s 2021 recruiting class and played on the two national championship teams.
On Saturday, Vandagriff will be standing on the opposing sideline for the Wildcats, as Georgia gets set to play its first SEC game.
“You know, whatever anybody on the team, anybody that transfers, we always wish the best for them,” Chambliss said. “You know, sometimes it might be for circumstances or sometimes reasons outside of football. I know he has his reasons. I know and trust him to make a decision that puts him in the best place.”
In some ways, Georgia knows what to expect against Vandagriff. They’re well aware of what type of competition he is and a good chunk of the defense practiced against him for the last three seasons.
But those same teammates wouldn’t have anticipated him getting pulled on Saturday against South Carolina when he completed 3 of his 10 pass attempts for 30 yards. He also threw a pick-6 in a game Kentucky lost 31-6. Kentucky pulled Vandagriff from the game and let Rutgers transfer Gavin Wimsatt finish out the loss.
“He’s going to put everything in it,” Chambliss said of facing Vandagriff. “You know, sometimes games don’t go your way, and at quarterback it’s just, you know, amplified. Each week’s a new week, and each week of preparation is a new week. What he did last week doesn’t say what he’s going to do this week, and what we did last week doesn’t mean we’re going to do it this week.”
Vandagriff arrived at Georgia with plenty of hype, as he was a 5-star prospect. Of his Georgia roommates, he was the highest-rated of the four.
But for as talented as Vandagriff might be, he was always a year younger, and thus behind, Carson Beck. The current Georgia starter had an experience edge that Vandagriff could never make up.
When Beck played as well as he did last season for Georgia, the writing was on the wall for Vandagriff. He still spent three years at Georgia and earned his degree before ending up at Kentucky, where he finally had a chance to start.
“I’d say the quarterback position, there comes a point in time when if you haven’t played, you’re running out of time to play,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “So I don’t know what you want a kid to do, wait out his whole career and not play, I mean, he did graduate. He became a better player.
“He certainly feels that he had a great experience at Georgia, and two national championship rings. So I think that that’s a positive more than it is any kind of negative.”
Last season at Georgia, Vandagriff appeared in 8 games. He completed 12 of his 18 pass attempts for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns. He added 39 rushing yards as well and his best game ironically came against Kentucky. Over his three years at Georgia, he appeared in just 13 games.
Vandagriff isn’t the only former Bulldog on Kentucky’s roster, as former inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson will also suit up for the Wildcats on Saturday.
But even though Dumas-Johnson was the more accomplished player on Georgia’s team — he started every game during the 2022 and 2023 seasons before suffering a season-ending arm injury — Vandagriff is the bigger draw this week.
Vandagriff was the higher-ranked recruit, plays at the more high-profile position and was a local product as he played for nearby Prince Avenue Chrisitan School.
Chambliss will go up and talk to Vandagriff after the game on Saturday, though the Georgia outside linebacker doesn’t expect to text much with Vandagriff. Chambliss doesn’t use his phone all that often and prefers face-to-face interactions.
Beck said following the game on Saturday he planned on reaching out to Vandagriff, as the two do still keep in touch.
It’s clear from those around the program, Vandagriff was a valued member. And while they’re rooting for him on most Saturdays, Georgia will look to make things difficult when they kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC on Saturday.
“.What Brock did for this university was awesome,” Smart said. “He was a wonderful teammate and just a great kid. Always put the team first and would do anything to help the team and really helped our culture while he was here. I have a lot of appreciation for what he did and in fact he graduated from here. It’s really cool when he told me he was gonna do that, and then he was gonna go play and he did that.”
