ATHENS — Defining a successful G-Day is difficult.
Georgia threw the ball 88 times Saturday, as there is little balance to the offense.
Defenders aren’t able to hit the quarterback, either, while it often plays very vanilla coverage and rarely blitzes.
On the whole, Kirby Smart liked what he saw on Saturday afternoon, when the Red Team beat the Black team, 34-17.
“Some good and bad for both, but that’s the way spring games go,” Smart said. “We’ve got to play some loose plays, throw the ball around, got to do some two-minute. Excited about the guys that got to play. We’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of offseason and getting ourselves where we need to be for next year, but a lot of the mid-years got valuable minutes. I can remember when mid-years kind of went with the threes and fours, and now it seems like more of them are going with the twos.
“That’s just the way of college football right now.”
While Smart wanted to review the film before making any real judgments, there were still plenty of takeaways from the afternoon. Below are our final grades coming out of Georgia’s final practice of the spring.
Quarterback: B-
Gunner Stockton had the better showing of the two quarterbacks, throwing for 309 yards on 34 pass attempts. He improved as the day progressed, capping things off with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Sacovie White on his final play of the game. Stockton had a 31-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Bell earlier in the game.
Ryan Puglisi was much more up and down. Georgia put a lot on his shoulders, as he attempted 49 passes. He had some nice moments, including a touchdown pass to Colbie Young when Puglisi got his first chance to play with the starting offense.
But he also had an ugly interception that was picked by Dominick Kelly just before halftime. While Stockton progressed throughout the afternoon, Puglisi was streakier.
Colter Ginn looked good on his first drive of the second half, which ended in a touchdown pass to London Humphreys. Hezekiah Millender showed off his athleticism with a nice scramble. Ryan Montgomery did not play as he recovers from a knee injury.
Running back: B
Nate Frazier had the game’s first touchdown, plowing in from 1 yard out. Cash Jones didn’t get much run on the afternoon, but that’s arguably a good thing given all of his experience.
It was the younger running backs who looked the best on Saturday. Bo Walker had a game-high 44 rushing yards, with much of it coming on a 30-yard run. He showed why he was a common talking point this spring.
Chauncey Bowens also showed off Saturday, adding 38 rushing yards on five carries. Bowens’ most impressive play came when he took a shot pass and turned it into a 34-yard reception. It was negated by a Young holding penalty, but it was still a nice individual effort from Bowens.
Wide receiver: B
It’s a spring game, but it’s hard not to come away encouraged on Saturday with this group.
London Humphreys had two touchdown catches, both in the second half, to go along with a 50-yard reception.
Dillon Bell impressed with 78 receiving yards on 5 receptions for the Red team.
Young’s 17-yard touchdown catch was a great reminder of what he can unlock for this offense. He nearly had a second touchdown catch but couldn’t get his foot in bounds as he made a leaping grab over Demello Jones. The cornerback did a good job of forcing Young out of bounds.
A couple of newcomers made big plays Saturday, as Zachariah Branch came up with a 36-yard reception to set up Frazier’s reception. Of the freshmen, CJ Wiley showed promise as he made a 35-yard one-handed catch.
Noah Thomas did exit the game with an AC sprain while Cole Speer left with an ankle injury. Speer also had a bad drop that ended an offensive drive for Georgia, but drops weren’t an overall problem like they were for much of last season.
Tight end: C+
As it was a strong day for Georgia’s wide receivers, the tight ends didn’t have nearly as much to do.
Lawson Luckie had a strong early showing, hauling a 26-yard pass on third down from Stockton. Oscar Delp had just one reception, turning it into a 16-yard gain. Jaden Reddell similarly made the most of his limited opportunities, catching his only target for 15 yards.
Georgia worked to get its freshman tight ends involved on the afternoon. Ethan Barbour and Elyiss Williams combined for 12 targets during G-Day but caught only four passes, for 33 yards.
Williams in particular had a tough day. He dropped an easy touchdown pass from Puglisi in the second quarter. He was also flagged for a holding penalty.
Offensive line: Incomplete
With Georgia throwing the ball 88 times and no TV copy to go back and double-check our work, it’s difficult to evaluate how the Georgia offensive line played Saturday.
The starting offensive line had Bo Hughley at left tackle, Micah Morris at left guard, Drew Bobo at center, Michael Uini at right guard and Earnest Greene at right tackle.
Georgia was missing Monroe Freeling and Daniel Calhoun, as both recover from injury.
In Georgia’s limited goal-line sets, it was able to convert and score a touchdown. But it’s still hard to gauge where this group is at in terms of run blocking at this point.
Defensive line: Incomplete
Georgia’s defensive front was put in an impossible position on Saturday. It knew Georgia would be throwing often and yet it couldn’t hit the quarterback.
Jordan Hall had an early pass breakup, while Joseph Jonah-Ajonye had a nice pressure, beating Jah Jackson to get to Puglisi.
Elijah Griffin had some wow moments on Saturday, though it’s clear he is at this point a more powerful defensive lineman than a fast one.
This group is very young and was without its most veteran presence in Christen Miller. But there is good potential in the room with what Georgia has.
Outside linebacker: Incomplete
No group found themselves in a more difficult set of circumstances than the outside linebacker room. It was already without Gabe Harris and saw Quintavius Johnson exit the game in the second half.
Of the three 2025 signees at the position, Chase Linton popped up the most on the afternoon. The freshman from Atlanta had a couple of nice pressures on the afternoon.
Inside linebacker: A
This position group is an obvious strength of the team. CJ Allen led the starting defense in tackles, while adding three tackles for loss.
Yet it’s what Chris Cole and Justin Williams did that is perhaps most exciting. Cole had a key pass breakup to prevent a touchdown. Williams led all defenders in tackles with nine to pair with his three tackles for loss. It felt like Williams was all over the field Saturday.
Provided this group can stay healthy, it is going to cause a lot of problems for opponents this fall.
Defensive back: B
Early on, Georgia’s defensive backs got the better of the pass-happy offense. Daniel Harris and Dominick Kelly both had first-half interceptions. Adrian Maddox came away with a sack on a delayed blitz, while Joenel Aguero displayed a real nose for the football.
But as Georgia kept throwing the football, this group couldn’t sustain the high level of play in the first half. With Georgia chucking it 88 times, just about every defensive back gave up some plays. Young’s touchdown came with Harris in pretty good coverage. Ditto for Aguero as he covered Branch on his 36-yard reception.
Georgia did not have starting cornerback Daylen Everette on the afternoon, but Smart should feel better about where this group is following G-Day.
Special teams: A
Peyton Woodring connected on field-goal attempts of 44 and 35 yards. Liam Badger also knocked home a 23-yard field goal.
Drew Miller boomed a 64-yard punt, one of two punts of his to travel 50 yards. Georgia should be in good hands at the punter position, even if Brett Thorson is slowed in his recovery.
Branch showed some real pop as a returner. Smart prioritizes strong special-teams play and it looks like Georgia will have that again in 2025.
Overall: B
Injuries were limited on the afternoon and not considered to be serious. The offense made some plays, while the defense had its fair share of moments as well.
There will be plenty of things for Smart to nitpick about his team going forward. He knows the group has to be better.
But Saturday was a success for the program, especially in an age where schools are dropping spring games altogether.
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