georgia football quarterback room brock vandagriff

ATHENS — Following the conclusion of Georgia’s spring game, Kirby Smart meant it when he said he felt good about all three of the team’s quarterback options.

The decision by Brock Vandagriff to remain at Georgia, as opposed to entering the transfer portal to seek playing time elsewhere, only further backs up Smart’s thought process.

“I was really pleased with all three quarterbacks,” Smart said. “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 pleased with those guys.”

Smart did not pull the trigger and name Carson Beck the team’s starting quarterback following his strong G-Day performance. When asked to assess the performance of Beck and Vandagriff, Smart actually spent more time defending the play of Vandagriff. He completed 13 of his 25 pass attempts for 175 yards. He sprinkled in two touchdowns along with a 23-yard run. There’s was also the fact that he was picked off on Saturday.

Beck looked more crisp leading the first-team offense, as he completed 13 of his 18 pass attempts for 211 yards in working with the starting offense. He also didn’t turn the ball over.

Both Beck and Vandagriff spoke about how the competition was going to continue into the fall. Almost like they knew no matter what happened on G-Day, there was still a long way to go before a final quarterback decision was made.

“I don’t think really any of us are worried about that, you know,” Beck said of the quarterback decision. “It’s just compete every single day kind of like I said earlier and just execute.”

Despite the intense competition, everyone wants to see the other quarterbacks succeed. There doesn’t appear to be any animosity.

Georgia has what seems to be a truly healthy quarterback battle.

“It’s a good, healthy competition between us two,” Vandagriff said. “We want to see each other do well. His (Beck) first touchdown, I think I was jumping up and down all over there, and he was on the other team. Me and Gunner were just proud of him and proud of what he’s been able to do this spring and lead our team as well.”

When speaking about the cornerback position, Smart estimated that the Bulldogs were only about 25 percent of the way through the number of practices prior to the start of the season. He intends on seeing that number get much closer to 100 percent before he makes a decision on who is going to start there.

You can apply that same line of thinking to the quarterback room. Up next is the summer workouts, where the quarterbacks will be instrumental in organizing the team.

It will test the leadership and mental abilities of Beck and Vandagriff to make sure that everyone on the offense is on the same page.

“They’ll have throwing sessions, 7 on 7s; they’re used to doing that,” Smart said. “Whether it’s Jake Fromm, all the way to Stetson (Bennett), all the guys we’ve had do that. That’s the leadership quality we hope that position possesses, the drive, the work ethic of the team.”

One of Smart’s key tenants as a coach is having quality depth. It’s not enough to just have one star player at a position. You need multiple guys who could step up when their number is called. That’s the case on the defensive line, tight end and wide receiver rooms.

The quarterback room is no different. And the return of Vandagriff, to go along with Beck and Stockton, ensures Georgia will have that at the quarterback position this fall. Even if Vandagriff himself doesn’t end up winning the quarterback job to start the season.

Consider that Bryce Young did not start every game for Alabama last season. Or how Bennett came off the bench to lead Georgia to a national championship in the 2021 season. There’s enough recent history in the SEC to show there’s still a tremendous amount of value in having multiple high-level quarterbacks.

Georgia will have that in 2023. That much we know coming out of spring practice.

“At the end of the day, it’s about guys who aren’t going to put the team in jeopardy and be able to move the chains with the Georgia Bulldogs,” Vandagriff said.

Brock Vandagriff talks his future with Georgia football

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