‘Less boneheaded-ness’ highlights Georgia quarterback play this week

“Less boneheaded-ness (Thursday) than previous,” Smart said after Saturday’s practice, conducted in the dry confines of the Payne Indoor Athletic Center. “… There were moments where they conceded the down, lived for another down. If that happens to be third down, that’s OK. You can punt, you can kick a field goal. You can go for it on fourth, but not if you had boneheaded-ness. They seem to grasp that better.”

Georgia is conducting what is developing into a fairly intense quarterback competition between junior Carson Beck, sophomore Brock Vandagriff and redshirt freshman Gunner Stockton. By all accounts, it’s coming down to the two uppermost classmen.

In the first scrimmage, observers reported Beck throwing three touchdown passes, but also three interceptions. Conversely, Vandagriff didn’t throw any picks but showed perhaps too great a proclivity to run the ball on pass plays.

Stockton also drew some rave reviews but largely has been excluded from rotations with the No. 1 offense. In scrimmages, the Bulldogs are competing almost exclusively “good on good,” which means the frontline players on offense and defense going head-to-head. That will be the format for G-Day on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN2).

All of the quarterbacks are extremely inexperienced, especially compared with the graduated Stetson Bennett, who went 29-3 and won two national championships as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 signal-caller.

“They all need to play football,” Smart said. “Go out and play football, not have a drill, not running routes on air, not 7-on-7. They need to play. That’s what we’re trying to do in our practices is to make sure we get enough playing.”

By that, Smart said he means facing third-down situations in which the quarterback needs to get in the play from the sideline, look at the defense and assess the odds of the play succeeding, check out if needed, then react in real-time to what develops.

“There is no greater pressure on a quarterback than third down,” Smart said. “First and second down, play-action and handoff, ‘eh, not a lot there,’ it’s either there or it’s not. Third down, that is where you make the separation. We’re trying to put those guys in that situation so we can improve them.”

There are a lot of other critical position battles being waged in spring camp as well. None of those are greater than the competition for playing time at left tackle. In terms of earning the starting job, it might be a finish-line decision between Austin Blaske and Earnest Greene at the end of preseason camp.

In the meantime, the Bulldogs’ coaches have seen enough to know they have two great options in the two third-year players trying to earn Broderick Jones’ vacant position. No matter what, both will be on the field a lot this fall, good health permitting.

“They’re great kids, practice really hard, both extremely physical,” Smart said. “They both have had dinged-up injuries, and neither one has flinched. They won’t come out. Earnest waves somebody off because he wants to stay out there and get his reps. His ankle was dinged was up one time. Blaske, the same thing with his shoulder and knee. I see the guy limping. He wants his reps.

“I respect more than anything a guy’s mental and physical toughness. They both have that.”

That’s an important trait as Georgia has not had a season in which both the starting tackles remained healthy the entire season.

On defense, there is a potential storyline developing in which Javon Bullard, who starred at the nickel-back position last season, may end up logging most of his snaps at safety. Part of the reason for that is it’s a natural fit for Bullard, who played in the deep third of the defense throughout high school and has worked there throughout his Georgia career.

The other part has been the consistent play and good health of fifth-year senior Tykee Smith.

“Tykee has been through a tough road, guys,” Smart said of the former All- American at West Virginia. “… He has had to come here and compete and really earn it. And he’s been through some injuries. But without the injuries, this is the most competitive environment there is to go out and play. He’s taken that in head-on. I think he’s put himself in a position to have a really, really good season with the way he’s practiced and led.”

Smart pointed to another standout as the Bulldogs completed their 12th of 15 spring practices Saturday. Place-kicker Jared Zirkel, a junior from Kerrville, Texas, has bided his time behind his now-graduated predecessor, Jack Podlesny. He’s the clear heir apparent this spring, but Zirkel will be fully engaged in another kick-by-kick competition when highly touted incoming freshman Peyton Woodring arrives this summer.

But in terms of controlling all he can in the here and now, Smart said Zirkel has responded impressively.

“‘Zirk’ has actually had two of the better days I’ve seen any field-goal kicker have,” Smart said. “Outside, in the wind, against the wind, he’s been really consistent in terms of hitting kicks. He’s obviously going to be in a competition this fall, but I’ve been really pleased with how hard he’s worked at it.”

The biggest victory for the Bulldogs in the last week has been dodging the weather and getting in all the work they needed. Switching the scrimmage to Thursday and the clean-up to Saturday proved a good move.

“We were able to go inside today and have a really highly organized, detailed, energetic practice that I was really excited about,” Smart said. “You don’t typically get your best practices after a scrimmage on a Saturday, (but) I thought we had a really good practice today. I give a lot of credit, No. 1 to our players, No. 2 to our coaches for being very organized and detailed on it, and the enthusiasm of everybody that helped make it happen.”