georgia football quarterbacks spring practice

ATHENS — When you’re practicing on-air, Todd Monken expects his quarterbacks to be perfect. There shouldn’t be any errant throws or miscommunication between the quarterbacks and Georgia pass catchers.

Yet during the open portions of Georgia’s practice on Thursday, there were a handful of miscues from the Georgia quarterbacks. Stetson Bennett muffed a mesh point with running back Kenny McIntosh, leading to a botched handoff. Carson Beck underthrew a deep fade, though he was not the only quarterback to be less than perfect in the opening minutes of Thursday’s practice.

For the first drill, Beck and Bennett were paired together and throwing to receivers, tight ends and running backs on one side of the field. On the other, Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton were throwing with the receivers, tight ends and running backs alternating between the two lines.

When the quarterbacks went to work with the running backs, Bennett and McIntosh went first, followed by Beck and Kendall Milton. Vandagriff went third and was paired with Daijun Edwards and Stockon was working with walk-on Sevaughn Clark. In a passing drill to the running backs, Clark made an impressive one-handed grab on a pass made by Stockton, while Dell McGee made it clear to Edwards that he shouldn’t wait for the ball to come to him, instead attacking Vandagriff’s passing attempt.

While much of the attention at practice on Thursday was dedicated to the quarterbacks, they were not the only observations made during Georgia’s eighth practice:

Among the wide receivers, neither Dominick Blaylock or Arian Smith were wearing a brace while going through drills. Blaylock is full contact this spring, while Smith and freshman CJ Smith were both in black jerseys. The latter was wearing a knee brace after having his meniscus cleaned up prior to his arrival at Georgia.
Freshman defensive back Malaki Starks was spotted in a black non-contact jersey, a change from the practice viewing we had last Tuesday. Tight end Ryland Goede was also absent from the media viewing portion after he was seen on crutches this weekend. With no Goede, the scholarship tight ends at the moment are Brett Seither, Oscar Delp and Arik Gilbert.
Georgia was working with its punt teams during practice on Thursday. The first team featured AD Mitchell, Kamari Lassiter, Chaz Chambliss, Kenny McIntosh, Zion Logue, Warren Ericson, Brett Seither, Nolan Smith and Javon Bullard. William Mote was the snapping and freshman signee Brett Thorson was working as the punter. The Australian boomed his first attempt, though he was not facing a significant rush from the Georgia scout team.

Georgia will hold a scrimmage on Saturday, its first of the spring. Georgia coach Kirby Smart will address reporters after practice on Thursday, providing further intel on where things stand with the Bulldogs after having crossed the halfway point of spring practice.

The Bulldogs will wrap up spring practice on April 16, as they will hold G-Day in Sanford Stadium. It is set for a 1 p.m. start time, with ESPN2 broadcasting the game.

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