ATHENS — The Georgia quarterbacks room figures to be the talk of the preseason, and with good reason.
The addition of Southern Cal transfer JT Daniels — who’s waiting on a waiver for immediate eligibility — has sparked conversation and opened up several more scenarios than some might have imagined.
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Coach Kirby Smart said several times during the offseason the position was not settled, even after graduate transfer Jamie Newman arrived from Wake Forest.
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Still, there were many who took Smart’s comments as “coach speak.”
Some had settled into the convenient narrative that it was Newman’s job and redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis and true freshman Carson Beck would battle things out for back-up duties, with redshirt junior Stetson Bennett a trusted reserve for emergency duties.
Of course, that’s not how football works.
All of those quarterbacks are competing to be the starter, and former SEC Championship quarterback D.J. Shockley explained Daniels will bring fire to the mix.
“A very, very competitive young man, I’ve talked to some people who were on that USC staff, and they say one thing about him, you guys are getting a true pro,” Shockley said on The Bulldogs Game Day show.
Daniels began last season as the Trojans’ starting quarterback before his season was derailed by a torn ACL suffered in the first half of the opening game.
The fact the former 5-star recruit missed almost an entire season would seem to bode well for his case to get a waiver for immediate eligibility at Georgia.
“This is a guy that understands football,” Shockley said his USC sources told him, “and this is a guy that understands the nuances of an offense, and you know you have Jamie Newman.
“But this just adds to the competition level at the quarterback position.”
Time will tell, but it’s clear the Georgia Quarterback Derby is indeed off to the races.
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