Remember the 2022 season when Stetson Bennett was the QB at Georgia and led the team to the national championship? The QB produced 4,127 passing yards and 205 rushing yards in the season for 37 touchdowns. And who could forget the final, where he just ran riot and delivered the performance of his life against TCU as UGA defeated them by 65-7? Then came Carson Beck in the 2023 season.

Beck’s 2023 season was undoubtedly incredible, as he produced more than 4,000 passing and rushing yards and followed it by producing 3,485 passing yards the next season. It was undoubtedly a downgrade, but Carson Beck is no longer in Georgia. The player has since transferred to Miami in a shock move, and Georgia has been left with a gaping hole at the QB1 position. One player who is widely touted to be the replacement for Beck is Gunner Stockton.

ON3’s J.D. Pickell has declared in a sweeping take that Gunner Stockton would be taking up the QB1 spot for Georgia. “The headline on Monday when you crack that thing open is going to be that Gunner’s that guy (QB1)… Gunner Stockton has waited his turn and been on campus for over three years now. He’s going to be ready for his moment…. It’s gonna be Gunner Stockton’s job, no questions. That’s my feel on it. But the Georgia spring game will be a blast.” But why was there uncertainty regarding Stockton’s QB1 place?

Well, that’s because another quarterback, Ryan Puglisi, also came into the picture and was pushing aggressively to battle it out in the spring practices. The 2024 class’s 10th-ranked QB prospect declared that he would also be competing ferociously for the QB1 job as he backed himself with confidence.

“I definitely think I can. I could right now. I think if you’re at the quarterback position and you don’t believe that you could play, you should probably do something else because you need some confidence. At Georgia, no matter who you are, no matter where you are on the depth chart, you’re always going to compete.” Well, the statement does make things tricky, but how realistic was it for Ryan Puglisi to compete for the job?

The QB1 spot at Georgia became centered around Gunner Stockton as he showcased his talent in the two games the QB started in the absence of Carson Beck. Stockton produced 234 passing yards in the quarterfinal loss against Notre Dame and notched up 71 yards against the Longhorns in the SEC championship. A game in which Carson Beck also featured for some time. Puglisi, on the other hand, didn’t see a single snap last year and was primarily a third-string backup.

Still, if his high school career is taken into account, then he produced 1,693 yards for 14 TDs and threw 1,904 in the year before that. The red-shirt freshman QB’s running threat, on the other hand, is non-existent at best and hardly can deliver on the level of Gunner Stockton as of now. So, while the idea is ambitious, the Connecticut native still has a lot of work to do to make a compelling case.

Kirby Smart’s two secret weapons have the potential to change the fate of Georgia?

Well, the problems that wide receivers at Georgia had are something that is the worst-kept secret in college football right now. Georgia’s receiving unit led the country in drops (36) and provided Carson Beck with more reasons to leave the UGA setup. For context, if the drops had been taken into account, Carson Beck would have produced 665 yards more with greater efficiency, so it could have surely played a part. But now, Kirby Smart seems to have taken heed of all the criticism regarding his receiver room.

J.D. Pickell provided two players who have the potential to change the fortunes of Georgia’s receiving unit. “We got some big-time transfers, Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas. Zachariah Branch I think he is going to lead the team in receptions in 2025. Curious to see how they use him. Is it the jet sweep? Or is it the pop-pass bubble screen? I want to see that Noah Thomas. I mean, that dude’s legit 6’5″. Go up and get it kind of target for you.”

Kirby Smart had gone all in building his 2025 class through both the transfer portal and the high school recruitment. The Bulldogs have raked up a second-ranked class nationally with 28 freshman enrollees and 6 transfers. The transfers, in particular, stand out the most. Zachariah Branch has joined from the USC Trojans and had a 4-star transfer rating. In just his last season, the sophomore produced 503 receiving yards and played a pivotal role for the Trojans. Noah Thomas, on the other hand, is a different beast.

The WR joined from Texas A&M and stands at 6’5″ and 180 lbs with a massive catch radius. He was also a crucial piece in the Aggies’ setup as he produced 574 passing yards, scoring 8 touchdowns at an average of 14.7 yards per reception. Both players will be crucial for UGA going forward, and it remains to be seen how Kirby Smart deploys both players in his setup.