Georgia's Quarterbacks "More the Same Than They Are Different", According to Kirby Smart

Kirby Smart believes Georgia's sees similarities in the skill sets Georgia's quarterbacks bring to the Bulldog offense.

The battle to replace Stetson Bennett as Georgia's starting quarterback between Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff, and Gunner Stockton continues to a rage on as the Bulldogs completed their first scrimmage of fall camp in the lead up to the 2023 season. In his press conference with beat writers following Saturday's scrimmage, Smart spoke at length regarding the similarities in the style of play of each of Georgia's signal callers.

When asked about the diversity of the Georgia quarterback room, Smart pushed back on the notion that there are significant differences in the skill sets of Georgia's three scholarship quarterbacks, particularly when it comes to any perceived dual-threat ability.

"I think the first part of that question I would disagree with because I don't know how diverse it is. You may feel that way or someone outside may feel that way, but I don't really see any of our three quarterbacks as quarterback run people. I didn't see Stetson that way. Now, could Stetson run, yeah, but we didn't design runs. maybe a few in the red area but we didn't design runs."

Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart met with the media following Georgia's first fall scrimmage and detailed the similarities he sees in his team's quarterbacks

Smart also made it clear that there are no imminent plans to use any of Georgia's quarterbacks as a threat in the designed run game.

"We don't really want our quarterback physically getting hit. Your question makes it sound like there are certain guys that we are going to have quarterback run packages for and certain guys we probably wouldn't.  Not the case." 

Smart did clarify that Georgia's quarterbacks are not carbon copies of each other, but maintained that he sees far more similarities in the trio than he does differences.

"Now, can one of them maybe run a little better than the other? Maybe a little bit, but these three guys are all three pretty good athletes, so I don't know how diverse. When I hear diverse I think oh they're all three really different. They're all three really more of the same than they are different. If you line them up in the 40, one might be a little faster than the other, one might be a little more instinctive in the pocket than the other, one might just be a better runner just as reading blocks because maybe he ran better in high school, but I don't see them that different and we will not have an extensive quarterback run package."

Redshirt junior Carson Beck throws a pass during a Georgia practice

According to Smart, ultimately, the Bulldogs will lean on a familiar offensive formula in 2023 with the quarterback serving as a distributor to Georgia's myriad weapons at the offensive skill positions.

"We are going to give the ball to our backs and we're going to throw the ball on the perimeter and let our skill players do things with it."