Georgia may have lost out on the services of five-star quarterback Arch Manning to Texas, but Bulldog head coach Kirby Smart isn’t worrying about any spilled milk.
Not with the way his current quarterback room is shaping up for the fall.
Just having an incumbent like Stetson Bennett would be good news for any coach. But in this case, the fact that backup Carson Beck is entering Year 3, Brock Vandergriff is starting Year 2 and true freshman Gunner Stockton is coming off a strong spring as an early enrollee, Smart believes Georgia’s quarterback room is in great hands for several seasons to come.
“I would easily say this is the best, when you take a picture of the whole room, top to bottom,” Smart said during an appearance on the podcast Crain & Company podcast. “Those four guys that are going to meet in that quarterback room in fall camp. It’s the most depth we've ever had, especially the most depth of kind of like the guys that I know, and trust can play the position.”
This isn’t the first time Smart has made such comments as it pertains to his current quarterback room.
He also spoke highly of the group during the spring.
Bennett, not surprisingly, will be the starter after quarterbacking the Bulldogs to last year’s national championship. However, Beck apparently made big strides, with Vandagriff and Stockton also developing this spring.
“Brock's been through a couple springs now. Carson's been through a couple springs. I've gotten to see them in spring games,” Smart said. “I've gotten to see them in game action. You get to see these guys really compete and grow. And obviously, we know Stetson's played in a lot of football games with what we saw last year. Gunner had some promising stuff in the spring. So, I really am excited about where those guys are.”
When asked what he needs to see from each of the four moving forward, Smart said the answer is simple.
“I need to see them continue to develop, take on that leadership role. You know, we've tried to put those four guys in front of the team or maybe in front of their individual age groups more often because we want to see them develop,” Smart said. “We want to see them get ready to play. You don't ever know when your number's going to be called at quarterback. We've seen that here really over the last three or four years because we've seen a different quarterback emerge from maybe who the season starter was a couple times. So, I'm excited about those guys. They've got great ability. I think coach (Todd) Monken and the staff does a great job with them.”