Todd Monken Georgia football backup quarterback

JT Daniels is the obvious starter for Georgia entering the 2021 season. But there is some real intrigue as to who his top backup would be.

Stetson Bennett started five games for Georgia last season, giving him an invaluable experience edge. The Bulldogs also signed 5-star quarterback Brock Vandagriff in the previous recruiting cycle. He posses the highest upside of any quarterback on the roster.

Then there is Carson Beck. He didn’t get a chance to do much in 2020, as his freshman season was completely upended by COVID-19. But he came out and played well in Georgia’s spring game.

That performance is why Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken felt comfortable naming as the No. 2 quarterback coming out of the spring session.

“We left spring with Carson as our No. 2 quarterback, but we’re working through that now,” Monken said.

Kirby Smart had previously said he was excited about the growth Beck had shown. In the spring scrimmage, the redshirt freshman from Jacksonville, Fla., completed 22 of his 31 pass attempts for 236 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Monken went deeper on the other candidates as well. He noted the tough adjustments Vandagriff is having to make as he makes the jump from high school to college.

Even with his athletic gifts, Vandagriff still is going through the process of learning a whole new offense while making the leap in competition.

“They’re not really able to show their ability because they’re processing so much,” Monken said. “It slows down their feet, it slows down some of those things. There’s been tremendous improvement there.”

Smart did praise Vandagriff when speaking last Friday, specifically on how he is handling the mental transition of becoming an SEC-level quarterback.

“For a guy to just come in and get this much thrown at him this quick,” Smart said. “You got to remember, Carson didn’t really get this because Carson went through Covid and didn’t get to go through spring. So to see Brock go absorb all that information and study really hard and he’s so diligent at studying, he’s growing really fast.”

Vandagriff was the No. 17 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2021 cycle.

Monken also spoke at length about the progress Stetson Bennett has made and how he’s handled the backup competition. Bennett lacks the long-term upside that both Beck and Vandagriff have.

But he’s still making improvements and showing that he’s capable of playing if need be. He did lead the Bulldogs to wins over Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee and Kentucky last season.

“Stetson’s to be commended because it hasn’t been easy,” Monken said. “You go from being a starter to hey you’re competing for other guys for even just the backup spot or the third spot. He’s worked awfully hard. He’s really intelligent. He has improved a ton. We’re fired up about the group.”

While Beck had the edge entering fall camp, that can change quickly. The Bulldogs have two scrimmages that will go a long way in shaping the backup quarterback battle going forward.

Monken is looking forward to seeing how Beck, Vandagriff and Bennett all go about handling that challenge and competition.

“We’re still in the process of evaluating that and the next two scrimmages will have a lot to say with that in terms of how we end up going in the first game,” Monken said.

Todd Monken updates Georgia football backup quarterback battle

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