What to make of QB performances during G-Day

LeMay was a former 4-star prospect from North Carolina who signed with the Bulldogs to much fanfare in 2012. Of course, Georgia had another quarterback at the time by the name of Aaron Murray.

Murray led the Bulldogs to the SEC Championship game in 2012 and would end his career as Georgia’s – and the SEC’s – all-time leading passer. LeMay transferred to Jacksonville State after the 2013 season.

Ramsey actually had standout performances in both the 2015 and 2016 G-Days (barely out-dueling Faton Bauta in ‘15). But Ramsey never started a game at quarterback for the Bulldogs, though he did become their punter for a time.

Beck will, of course, participate in this year’s G-Day game, which will be conducted at 4 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) at Sanford Stadium. He actually had one more yard passing (274) than Stetson Bennett last season. He also had 8 fewer incompletions and no interceptions to Bennett’s two. But it was Bennett who hoisted MVP trophies after the Bulldogs’ past two national championship games.

The point is, enjoy Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage for what it is. Revel in all the plays made and not made. But whatever personal opinion you may form about Georgia’s quarterbacks, just don’t read too much into it as a determining factor for which guy should start for the Bulldogs next season.

Ultimately, that outcome will be decided on an accumulation of the quarterbacks’ performances in the 40 other practices and assorted scrimmages that Georgia will have conducted between spring and the season opener against Tennessee-Martin.

Murray, now a college football analyst and announcer for ESPN, is on record saying that he believes that Beck, a fourth-year junior, will be given every benefit of the doubt to become Georgia’s next starting quarterback. But he also knows that these competitions are decided strictly on performance. And per his intel, sophomore Brock Vandagriff has been very impressive in practices and scrimmages and is giving Georgia coaches much to consider.

“He’s getting first-go with the 1s, and he’s earned it,” Murray said of the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Beck. “He deserves it. He’s the elder statesman. He’s done it the right way and bought his time. But, at the end of the day, too, the one thing we know from (coach) Kirby (Smart) is he’s not afraid to go an unconventional way. I mean, he started a former walk-on for two straight years instead of all these 5-stars.”

Technically, there is a quarterback competition in spring practice every year. Smart certainly wants us to believe that, whether it’s Jake Fromm coming back for a third season as a starter or if there are no returning starters at all, such as the Bulldogs have this year.

The truth is, though, what happens on G-Day typically has very little to do with determining which quarterback starts that season.

“I don’t have to pick one right now,” Smart said Wednesday during a live remote with Atlanta radio station The Fan. “… All three of them are really good quarterbacks. The beauty is, we get more time to process all the information. Do make a decision on an investment when you’re 25% done looking? No. I make a decision when I’m 100% through looking at it. We’re about 25% of the way through the practices we’ll get before we kick off next year.”

In fact, examining Georgia’s G-Day games over the past 10 years, the quarterback who had the most productive day in April did not end up being the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs in seven of those seasons.

Sometimes that was because of a fluke of circumstances. In 2017, for instance, an injury led to sophomore Jacob Eason deferring to freshman Jake Fromm. Usually, though, it was because of backups logging the majority of snaps and/or going against reserve players on defense.

Murray was involved in some of Georgia’s better quarterback competitions ever early in his career. He was an early-enrollee freshman when he made a bid to succeed Matthew Stafford in the spring of 2009. Ultimately, he lost to Joe Cox for that right and was redshirted.

It was the next spring when the competition really heated. Murray was in an intense competition with Zach Mettenberger and Logan Gray to become the Bulldogs’ starter. Mettenberger out-performed his competitors with 150 yards passing and two touchdowns to lead the Black team to a 17-7 win over the Red team.

“Zach had the better game,” Murray admitted. “We both played in camp, but he had the better spring game.”

However, only a few weeks later, Mettenberger was dismissed from the program following sentencing on some misdemeanor charges from a spring break incident. Murray then edged out Gray in preseason camp and became a four-year starter for the Bulldogs.

“It would’ve been really interesting to see how coach (Mark) Richt would have handled it if that incident hadn’t happened,” Murray said. “I felt pretty good, but you just never know.”

Also playing a factor in the G-Day game is the team for which one competes. Typically, the format is “good on good,” meaning the No. 1 offense is on one squad and the No. 1 defense is on the other. That, Murray said, typically favors the No. 2 offense.

“Even in the NFL, 2s vs. 2s is easier than 1s. vs. 1s because there’s always more good receivers than there are good DBs,” Murray said. “The second-team quarterback in a scrimmage or spring game typically is going to have the better stats. It’s so much harder going against a No. 1 defense.”

Indeed, Mettenberger ran the No. 2 offense that day in 2010, while Murray and Gray alternated snaps with the No. 1 unit.

“But I’m not saying that’s what happened that day,” Murray injected. “I played like crap that day.”

Murray confessed that, not knowing how the competition was going to go into that spring as a redshirt freshman, he had the dreaded transfer conversation with his parents.

“I told them, ‘if I don’t win this thing, I’ve got to find a new home,’” Murray said. “You never want to lose out to somebody who’s your age or younger. So, those conversations were real for me.”

Accordingly, there is plenty of speculation that Vandagriff, a sophomore, or Stockton, a redshirt freshman, might be looking for a new address if they lose out on this year’s quarterback competition. In the age of the transfer portal, it’s easier than ever for all players to relocate if they don’t like their circumstances.

Regardless, Murray believes the Bulldogs will be fine. Because of the recent success of Georgia’s program – including back-to-back national championships – Georgia typically gets its choice of the top players out of the portal whenever needed.

But Smart and the Bulldogs have done a good job of convincing players to remain patient and let the coaches develop them fully while competing for rings before making any big decisions.

“I hope all three stay; I really do,” said Murray, who will miss Saturday’s game while working as the TV analyst for Arkansas’ spring scrimmage in Fayetteville. “But it’s hard to think all three would stay, especially the two young ones. But even if Carson doesn’t win it, he might decide to move on. Who knows, maybe Kirby can keep them all there. We’ll see what happens.”

G-DAY QBS LAST DECADE

2012

LeMay 10-7-1; 154 yards; 1 TD; long 66 yards

Welch 11-5-1; 48 yards; 0 TD; long 17 yards

Mason 12-9-0; 133 yards; 1 TD; long 53 yards

Murray 17-7-0; 112 yards; 1 TD; long 33 yards

Bennett 1-0-0; 0 yards; 0 TD; long 0 yards

2013

Murray 18-12-0; 200 yards; 2 TD; long 37 yards

LeMay 6-0-1; 0 yards; 0 TD; long 0 yards

Ramsey 3-1-0; 22 yards; 0 TD; long 22 yards

Mason 27-16-1; 191 yards; 1 TD; long 30 yards

Welch 8-4-0; 103 yards; 1 TD; long 47 yards

2014

H. Mason 27-18-0; 241 yards; 1 TD; long 53 yards

J. Park 5-2-1; 27 yards; 0 TD; long 20 yards

B. Ramsey 13-2-1; 78 yards; 0 TD; long 46 yards

F. Bauta 28-16-1; 232 yards; 2 TD; long 47 yards

2015

B. Ramsey 9-5-0; 174 yards; 1 TD; long 72 yards

F. Bauta 25-16-0; 171 yards; 1 TD; long 25 yards

J. Park 15-10-1; 92 yards; 0 TD; long 17 yards

S. Vaughn 1-0-0; 0 yards; 0 TD; long 0 yards

2016

G. Lambert 22-11-1; 140 yards; 0 TD; long 20 yards

B. Ramsey 25-16-0; 224 yards; 0 TD; long 39 yards

Robinson 7-5-0; 49 yards; 1 TD; long 17 yards

J. Eason 29-19-0; 244 yards; 1 TD; long 37 yards

2017

J. Eason 36-16-1; 311 yards; 2 TD; long 47 yards; 5 sacks

S. Vaughn 6-3-0; 19 yards; 0 TD; long 10 yards; 1 sack

J. Fromm 23-14-0; 277 yards; 2 TD; long 70 yards; 1 sack

2018

J. Fields 33-18-1; 207 yards; 1 TD; long 36 yards; 7 sacks

J. Fromm 38-19-2; 200 yards; 1 TD; long 57 yards; 4 sacks

S. Bennett 9-5-0; 73 yards; 0 TD; long 45 yards; 0 sacks

2019

D. Mathis 28-15-1; 113 yards; 0 TD; long 20 yards; 5 sacks

J. Fromm 29-14-1; 116 yards; 1 TD; long 15 yards; 1 sack

S. Bennett 23-12-0; 210 yards; 1 TD; long 52 yards; 1 sack

2020- No G-Day due to Covid

2021

C. Beck 31-22-1; 236 yards; 2 TD; long 51 yards; 1 sack

B. Vandagriff 9-6-0; 47 yards; 0 TD; long 17 yards; 1 sack

J. Muschamp 2-1-0; 19 yards; 0 TD; long 19 yards; 0 sacks

J. Daniels 41-28-0; 324 yards; 3 TD; long 59 yards; 4 sacks

S. Bennett 4-3-1; 58 yards; 0 TD; long 29 yards; 0 sacks

2022

S. Bennett 35-15-2; 273 yards; 3 TD; long 33 yards; 3 sacks

B. Vandagriff 26-12-0; 115 yards; 0 TD; long 20 yards; 0 sacks

C. Beck 26-14-0; 274 yards; 0 TD; long 60 yards; 1 sack

G. Stockton 3-1-0; 9 yards; 0 TD; long 9 yards; 0 sacks

D. Blaylock 1-0-1; 0 yards; 0 TD; long 0 yards; 0 sacks

Credit: Jason Getz / AJC

Credit: Jason Getz / AJC

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com