ATHENS — One of the things that Kirby Smart did not cover extensively when he named Carson Beck Georgia’s starting quarterback Saturday was how the news was received by Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton. The Bulldogs’ eighth-year coach got into that when he made his annual preseason appearance at the Touchdown Club of Athens on Monday night.
In a nutshell, he said the two backups took the development very well.
“Brock and Gunner were both great,” Smart told David Johnston, who interviewed him for Athens radio station 960 The Ref (WRFC). “Both of those young men are coming from coaching families. Their dads played and coached football, so they get it. They understand that you have to make tough decisions. They just want feedback. They want to be coached, they want to be developed and they’re both growing.”
Smart and first-year quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator Mike Bobo tabbed Beck, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound, fourth-year junior, based primarily on having a much larger body of experience in both games and practices and overall knowledge and command of the offense.
Curiously, Smart said after the first scrimmage Aug. 12 that none of the quarterbacks played particularly well. Yet, he said all three of them played will in Saturday’s scrimmage at Sanford Stadium.
Unveiling the coaches’ decision may have helped.
“They actually (played) better during the week after they found that information out,” Smart said. They both scrimmaged well in scrimmage 2, and I think it gave a little bit of an injection to our offense in terms of those guys being about to go out and compete. They all scrimmaged well on Saturday.”
Smart was asked exactly how he approached the conversations with Vandagriff and Stockton.
“You’re just honest,” he said. “You tell them what they need to improve on and how much they have improved. I like what they do right. You make sure they see what they do wrong.”
In the end, Smart said, “we felt like it was good for those kids to know and understand who was going to get the reps and how we were going to work things.”
More money
UGA released the contract information for several of its assistant football coaches Tuesday, and those documents revealed an increasingly secure future for each of them with the Bulldogs.
Topping the list was defensive line coach Tray Scott. Earlier this year, Scott received a $247,000 pay raise that meant he would earn more than $1 million this season. It turns out that his amended contract, which will extend his employment agreement with the Bulldogs through June 2025, includes $100,000 raises after the next two seasons.
Scott’s contract was one of eight for football coaches that UGA’s athletic association turned over this week in response to open-records requests previously submitted by the AJC. The documents also revealed a $52,000 raise and one-year extension for receivers coach Bryan McClendon. He’ll now make $752,000 through 2025.
Earlier this year, UGA revealed salary adjustments and extensions for all 10 of Georgia’s assistant coaches, including defensive coordinators Glenn Schumann ($1.9 million) and Will Muschamp ($857,000), offensive coordinator Mike Bobo ($1.1 million), tight ends coach Todd Hartley ($850,000), who was promoted to assistant head coach, and run-game coordinator Dell McGee ($850,000).
Georgia’s extensions also extended to an off-field coach. Scott Sinclair, Georgia’s strength and conditioning coordinator, was extended through the 2025 season.
Who’s kicking?
Right now, Georgia has two players handling its place-kicking duties, and it might stay that way into the fast-approaching regular season.
Junior Jared Zirkel would seem to be the heir apparent, having bided his time behind Jack Podlesny this past two seasons. But freshman Peyton Woodring showed up from Lafayette, Louisiana, this summer and is giving Zirkel a run for his money. Both have exhibited both strong and accurate legs in preseason camp. On Saturday, they combined to go 6-for-7 under simulated pressurized situations.
“They’re both talented guys,” Smart said. “I could make the case for both of them, either one of them, to start right now. I don’t know how they did to kicked off. I don’t know the numbers on that. I’ve got to put a lot of thought into that and (get) hang times, and I don’t know what that was. They both had a really good fall camp, and we don’t have to make a decision on that.”
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