Georgia impressed by backup QB Ryan Puglisi’s relief appearance

ATHENS — Ryan Puglisi attempting Georgia’s first pass of last Saturday’s game was not a part of the designed game plan.

Gunner Stockton was forced from the game against Auburn after being hit on the first play of the game.

Perhaps even more surprising was to see Georgia call three consecutive pass plays with its backup quarterback while Stockton was waiting to be cleared.

Yet Georgia coach Kirby Smart wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see Puglisi step in and execute the offense.

“He was a part of the plan on all those plays,” Smart said. “He sat in the meeting on all of those plays. I don’t think when that happens you can just shut down and say, OK, I’ve gotta change the plan. That was the plan in those situations.”

Puglisi’s first pass was a short completion to Nate Frazier. The Georgia running back pushed ahead to put Georgia in a third-and-one.

Instead of simply plowing ahead for a short conversion, Georgia went deep to Craig Dandridge for an explosive play.

It wasn’t a perfect throw from Puglisi to Dandridge. But the freshman receiver was so open that he was still able to come down with a 41-yard gain on Georgia’s third play of the game.

Puglisi followed up that completion with another short pass to Frazier. It netted another first down for the Bulldogs, putting them in the red zone.

“It was awesome,” wide receiver London Humphreys said of Puglisi’s play. “I mean, just to see him be composed. Kind of a weird situation so early in a game. But seeing him make the throws that he did, it’s just something he does in practice. So if I said I was surprised, I’d be lying.”

Stockton reentered the game at that point. A handoff to Dwight Phillips Jr. turned into a 15-yard touchdown run to put Georgia up 7-0 early.

While Puglisi wasn’t a part of Georgia’s scripted start to the game, the third-year quarterback knew what Georgia wanted to do.

“He managed those situations really well,” Smart said. “That’s the reason we practice him, so he’s able to go in and do what he does well.”

Puglisi didn’t return to the game, as Georgia rode Stockton the rest of the way. Stockton did have three turnovers in the game, leading some to wonder why Puglisi wasn’t subbed back in.

Yet Smart forcefully put down the idea that a head injury was why Stockton was held out from the game. Smart and Stockton have both denied that the shoulder injury Stockton played through had any impact on his performance.

“You bounce back from those quickly,” Smart said. “Everybody’s making speculation and things, but the guy played really good against Alabama, and he could’ve really easily had two interceptions right? I mean, he had one, and the other was debatable right? So he played pretty good and had two interceptions. He still did some really good things in the game. I don’t think making it about a head injury when there’s no symptoms of that are realistic.”

On the season, Puglisi has now completed 20 of his 31 pass attempts for 252 yards and two touchdown passes. He’s also got 85 rushing yards, largely thanks to a 70-yard run in Georgia’s win over Western Kentucky.

Puglisi’s performance against Auburn was the best he has looked in SEC play. It’s a small sample size to be sure, but the junior quarterback briefly showed he could execute the Georgia offense in Stockton’s absence.