The only glimpse Georgia figured it’d be taking into the future Tuesday night was by opening up a big lead on Louisville and using the Belk Bowl to find some time for quarterback Hutson Mason’s heir apparent.
They got a lot more than that. Redshirt freshman Brice Ramsey was thrown into the game late in the first half without so much as one warm-up throw after Mason was leveled on an incomplete pass and bounced his head on the turf. He left the game with concussion-like symptoms, including dizziness and blurry vision.
Ramsey’s first play was a pass — a shock to nearly everybody but Louisville cornerback Terell Floyd, who intercepted it — but Ramsey was able to calm down after that. He did just enough to protect the 20-7 lead Mason had built into a 37-14 win over Louisville.
“We were scrambling to get him in the game and probably shouldn’t have put him in that position right at that moment,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “He did some good things. He made a couple of nice throws that were big on third down situations and he made some mistakes too. It was a big responsibility and overall, he secured that ball well.”
Ramsey finished 4-for-9 for 51 yards, making an occasional sharp throw to go with several ill-advised passes into heavy traffic. His best play came shortly after Louisville had cut Georgia’s lead to 27-14 late in the third quarter. Facing third-and-11 at the Georgia 26, Ramsey fired a confident pass over the middle to Chris Conley for a 14-yard gain and a first down.
From there, it was just a matter of handing off to Nick Chubb, who rolled up 268 yards, the most by a Georgia running back since Hershel Walker had 283 as a freshman against Vanderbilt.
“Hutson was just saying, ‘Keep it together out there, take it play by play, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, we’re already up by a good lead,’” Ramsey said. “Obviously, I was a little nervous in the beginning but I definitely took his advice and just slowed down. It started coming to me.”
Mason was dealing with his own disappointment and, at least at first, a decision to return to the game. Mason said some of the dizziness he felt initially dissipated but the vision problems persisted.
“It was super-tough just because it’s a terrible way to go out,” said the senior quarterback. “… If it would have been a leg or an arm or an injury like that, there’s no doubt I’d have been out there. But with the head, my awareness was not back up to 100 percent. So if someone would have gotten (close), I wouldn’t have seen them until he hit me. So it just wasn’t safe to go back out there.”
So the Bulldogs turned to Ramsey, the redshirt freshman, who had attempted just 30 passes in seven games, half of which came against Charleston Southern.
Now he figures to be the leading contender in a three-way battle at quarterback going into next season, along with Faton Bauta and Jacob Park. Consider the Belk Bowl a bit of a head start.
“The one third down throw he made when we really needed … he stood in there and shot it in there to Chris … was a big league play,” said tight ends coach John Lilly, who served as play-caller with the departure of offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. “I think that’s what he brings to the table. And Faton’s got that kind of ability as well. And then Jacob Park, who nobody has seen yet. I think the future is really bright at position here.”
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