ATHENS — At times this season, Ryan Puglisi seemed like a fourth-string quarterback.
Such is life when you’re a true freshman behind two players with starting experience — Carson Beck and Jaden Rashada — and backup that is in his third year at Georgia.
But in the span of a month, Puglisi shot up the depth chart. Beck suffered a season-ending injury, which pushed Gunner Stockton into the starting role for the Bulldogs. He helped Georgia beat Texas in the SEC Championship game and started against Notre Dame.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart revealed after the team’s win over Texas that Puglisi would’ve been the next man up at quarterback. Any mystery in that regard was further cleared up when Rashada, after not even a year in the program, went into the transfer portal.
Puglisi has yet to throw a pass in a game for Georgia. But despite the lack of game reps, Puglisi feels he still learned a lot in his first season at Georgia.
“I think early on I was blessed with having great leaders like Gunner and Carson ahead of me and showed me how to take on these types of roles,” Puglisi told DawgNation at the Sugar Bowl. “I think they did a great job for me, showing me how to do it. Watching Gunner be a backup the whole entire time, doing everything the same exact way that Carson was. And I always followed along, kind of did the same exact thing, just in case.”
Puglisi was a 4-star quarterback, originally from Worchester, Mass. With Beck and Rashada now no longer part of the picture, Puglisi is the only quarterback on Geogria’s roster that has been with the program. Georgia signed 4-star prospect Ryan Montgomery and 3-star Hezekiah Millender as members of the 2025 recruiting class but they’re even greener than Puglisi.
Stockton made his first career start against Notre Dame. He threw for 234 yards on 32 attempts and a touchdown in the loss. While he has an edge in experience over Puglisi, don’t expect Smart to just hand Stockton the starting job.
Puglisi will be expected to push for the starting job this spring.
“With how we practice at University of Georgia, Coach Smart is going to continue to try to develop [them],” Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said prior to the Notre Dame game. “So, you know, throughout this whole bowl practice, ones, twos, and three, three groups are going. So now you’ve only got less quarterbacks repping, so those guys are getting more reps. So they’re obviously going to help their development.”
Puglisi has never been afraid of competition. As a prospect, he remained committed to Georgia even after the Bulldogs made it clear they were taking another quarterback. The Bulldogs had 5-star prospect Dylan Raiola committed, only for him to flip at the last minute. Puglisi was undeterred and remained with Georgia through it all.
One of the bigger developments Stockton made this past season came when he was preparing to be the starting quarterback, even when he was so clearly Beck’s backup. That helped him greatly when Stockton stepped in for Beck in the SEC Championship game.
Puglisi will now be tasked with making a similar jump in preparation. He’s ready for it as he enters his second season in the program.
While he didn’t get the experience of live reps, the freshman quarterback feels he did learn this past season. He believes those lessons will help him as he continues to grow as a player.
“Honestly, probably connection. I think just being a part of this team with these guys, having love for guys, for a team. I mean, we talk about it all the time,” Puglisi said. “We need to just have the love for other people’s success. Being part of something that’s bigger than you, that’s been really cool for me.”
