ATHENS — Nothing is a coincidence when it comes to the way head coach Kirby Smart runs his program.

So when the Georgia head coach told reporters that the Bulldogs were looking into getting their quarterback room up to four scholarship players back during the early signing period, that should’ve signaled that the Bulldogs were serious about doing so.

“That’s something we have to think long and hard about,” Smart said in December. “Our hard number is four. We want to be at four, and we’re not at four. So again, we’ll look at our options and see what we can do there. We would like to be at four, but that’s our goal.”

The Bulldogs had just three scholarship quarterbacks this season but were at four during each of their championship-winning seasons.

It seems Georgia may have identified who that fourth quarterback could be. Multiple reports indicate that UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava took a visit to Georgia last week.

Maiava has three years of eligibility remaining. As a redshirt freshman, he threw for 3,085 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also ran for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns as well for the Rebels. UNLV enjoyed great success this past season, going 9-5 on the year under first-year head coach Barry Odom.

Part of what made the idea of Georgia adding a quarterback tricky is that it already has its starting quarterback for the 2024 season. Carson Beck announced he would be returning to Georgia for another season in December, days before Smart made his comments about adding a fourth quarterback.

Beck will be looking to build off an impressive debut season, as he threw for 3,941 yards and 24 touchdowns.

“I set really high expectations,” Beck said prior to the Orange Bowl. “But it definitely could have done a whole lot better. There’s so many opportunities left out on the field. So many decisions where it’s like, I go back and watch on film, I’m like, I’ve done that 1,000 times and how could I possibly mess that up?”

“So just really coming back and being super tough on myself as we go into next year.”

For much of the 2024 recruiting cycle, Georgia held two quarterback commitments in the form of Ryan Puglisi and Dylan Raiola. The latter of those two ended up signing with Nebraska, while Puglisi is already on campus and participated in bowl practices with the Bulldogs.

It’s not yet a done deal that Georgia adds Maiava, as USC is also a strong contender for his services. He also visited the Trojans this past weekend as well.

What is perhaps most interesting about any potential Maiava addition is what it would say about Gunner Stockton. Maiava and Stockton are on the same eligibility clock. Stockton got his first serious action in Georgia’s bowl win over Florida State.

In that game, Smart specifically wanted to see how Stockton handled working with the first-team offense.

“I told the team at halftime, we’re going to go out there and all the stars are going to play. Gunner is going in,” Smart said. “Going to let him play. Called the game and let him go execute and play, because he deserves an opportunity to go play.

“The only way you get better at that position is to go play meaningful minutes and get time, and I thought it was big for him to go in.”

Stockton completed 6 of his 10 pass attempts for 96 yards, while also adding 46 rushing yards. Stockton is a very popular teammate as well, with many happy to see him get an opportunity in the Orange Bowl.

“I think Gunner has done a great job in learning the offense,” Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said of Stockton. “I think that’s been his number one development so far. He’s gotten more reps this year with the offense where last year he was on basically the scout team. But now he’s getting reps, and I think every rep you get you see growth. But just being more comfortable in the offense is his biggest growth.”

To date, Georgia has added five players from the transfer portal. Four of them have come on the offensive side of the ball, as the Bulldogs have brought in Florida running back Trevor Etienne, Vanderbilt wide receiver London Humphreys, Miami wide receiver Colbie Young and USC wide receiver Michael Jackson III. All of those additions were made with an eye toward helping Beck in 2024.

A potential addition of Maiava would be seen as a move to possibly help the 2025 Georgia team.

Georgia did see 19 scholarship players depart the program via the transfer portal. While players will have to wait until April 16 to enter the transfer portal again, players already in the transfer portal, such as Maiava, can still be in contact with schools and take visits.