ATHENS — Arian Smith and Ladd McConkey both agree about the state of Georgia’s quarterback situation.
It’s currently unsettled and even if Carson Beck is the favorite to win the job, there’s a confidence in all three quarterback options.
“I feel like it’s really not that big. I’m just focused on my competition,” Smith said. “I can’t focus on quarterbacks. They’ve got a whole job to do. I’ve got a whole job to do. I’ve got to work on my craft, my plays, my efforts, just like they do. I feel like we’re going to be fine at quarterback.”
The depth of Georgia’s wide receiver room likely plays a part in that belief. In addition to playing behind one of the best offensive lines in college football, Georgia has one of the deeper and more talented wide receiver rooms of the Kirby Smart era.
Smith returns for his fourth year in the program. He ended the 2022 season with a bang as he submitted a career-best performance in the team’s win over Ohio State.
He’s got a relatively simple goal this month: make it through fall camp healthy, something he has been unable to do to this point in his college career.
Smith’s speed should help open up things for players like McConkey, Georgia’s top wide receiver a season ago. Add in Missouri transfer Dominic Lovett, senior Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and a bulked-up Dillon Bell and Geogria’s got five strong options to go along with the best tight end in football in Brock Bowers.
No matter who plays quarterback, they’re going to have plenty of talent around them.
“We have three guys at every position that can go in and feel like we won’t skip a beat,” McConkey said. “Obviously we all have our different ways of playing and styles of playing, but there’s so many guys that can go in there and contribute. That’s exciting.”
Beck has been the talk of camp to this point, based largely on his prior experience and strong performance at G-Day. He’s the eldest boy in Georgia’s quarterback room and many have spent the first few press conferences trying to find out what kind of leadership Beck brings to the table.
That speaks largely to the idea that he’s going to be the guy relaying the plays in once Georgia takes the field in September.
“He’s more into it, more vocal,” Smith said. “He’ll ask me a question about how I like something. I feel like he’s more vocal on the field. Off the field, he’s very chill, laid back, to himself.”
Smith, Beck and McConkey all signed with Georgia during the 2020 signing class. They’ve all grown together and it’s now their turn to lead the Georgia offense.
Georgia will also have a new offensive coordinator in Mike Bobo, as he takes over for Todd Monken. That’s undoubtedly something to watch as well, given Monken got the most of McConkey while helping turn Stetson Bennett into a Heisman Finalist and championship-winning quarterback.
Whoever ends up winning the starting quarterback job, be it Beck, Brock Vandagriff or Gunner Stockton, there is now a standard to live up to at the quarterback position.
“Carson’s a guy who, I like to say, comes to work. He’s confident in himself, and that’s the biggest thing,” McConkey said. “When he gets his confidence, he gets rolling. No one’s stopping him. He’s going to be a huge part of our offense, whether it’s him, whether it’s Brock, whether it’s Gunner. I have so much confidence in all those guys. To play quarterback, you’ve got to have a little swagger about you. I feel like all those guys have that.”
