Best Of

Eh, what do rankings really know? Beck was supposed to be a superstar last year and wound up with much weaker numbers vs the year before. Ewers was the NCAA 25 cover QB and wound up drafted in 7th round. And I'm not sure why people don't talk about this, but the #1 pick in the NFL 25 draft had ZERO STARS as a HS recruit. He went to Incarnate Wood. Yes, that's a school. When he transferred to Miami he still was only a 4 star transfer.

Lets look at the rankings of other QBs:

7th best QB - Jaxson Dart (1st round Pick)
7th best QB - Will Howard (6th round Pick)
12th best - Dillon Gabriel (3rd round)
12th best - Graham Mertz (6th round)
14th best - Jalen Milroe (3rd round)
22nd best - Kurtis Rourke (7th round)
43rd best - Tyler Shough (2nd round)

And that's just a partial list and based on their TRANSFER ranking. People like Dillon Gabriel were 3 stars out of HS, Kurtis Rourke was a 2 star out of Canada.

Gunner is going to do great!

Fun fact, every QB on that list that we played, we beat.

So this means absolutely nothing.

Fair post - understand where you are coming from on Beck.

But from my perspective, my dislike for him started from his very first start against UAB.

It started when he threw an interception, the fellow ran right by Beck and he made no effort to stop him. He walked off the field laughing…will never forget it.

Smart jerks him and inserts Stetson. The rest was history.

Beck finally gets his chance and redeems himself imo. He had a pretty dang good year. But his last year, I remember him laughing on the bench when we were losing several times…it reared its **** head again.

As a player, you certainly don’t want a teammate like that. I know I wouldn’t - you don’t want to give that extra effort.

I’m with the poster below, I’m glad he’s gone. Pretty sure the team wasn’t giving 100% all season - the Texas game you could see it when Gunner came in. They certainly wanted to play for him.

He gives effort and sacrifices.

He may or may not have the talent of Beck, but he definitely has the leadership. Something was definitely “rotten in Denmark” from where I sat.

Leaders win..

How fun, I got Mike Griffith to comment. Although, I absolutely do not agree. Stetson had something everybody didn't have - unrelenting desire. SB made the clutch plays, and how many superstars don't. I can still see that Bryce interception to our DB for a pick six. Bryce throws it further, they win. Bryce isn't that good, and the NFL is waking up to it.

On the flip side, love your articles MG. I'm just a guy with a keyboard… :)

When you think of it it is not surprising that player leadership within the UGA program is eroding. The UGA team experiences 1/3rd (?) player turnover every season with graduation and TP. Most of those players are older players who have been in the program multiple seasons. Players who have been immersed in the culture and experienced the leadership from the champions that came before them.

Those players are being replaced with freshman mostly and a few transfers. Those are players who have no exposure to the UGA culture, standard or the previous elite leaders that have moved on from the program.

Culture and leadership starts with the coaches not the QB. The QB always gets too much credit or too much blame. Putting the '24 season all on Beck is myopic.

As for the rushing problems of '24 and the prospect of rushing success in '25 let me spin it a different way. Regardless of the OL and the RB's, UGA will struggle running the football in'25 IF the '25 QB is not a passing threat. The '25 QB has to be able to throw with accuracy and stretch the field or the box will be stacked against the run in '25. That will make running the ball more difficult in '25.

UGA failed to run effectively in '24 WITH a QB known for his accuracy and success in '23. W/o a QB with some level of proficiency UGA will struggle again to run the football. Hopefully GS, with all his experience in HS and the UGA system, will prove to be a very accurate passer. We know he can stretch the field, Accuracy and command of the offense are the questions.