ATHENS — There are a lot of questions about the state of the Georgia quarterback room.
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck was assisted off the field at halftime of the SEC Championship game, after taking a hit and injuring his arm on the final play of the first half.
Coach Kirby Smart told ESPN that Georgia was still awaiting the results of an MRI that took place on Sunday morning. Smart said he saw Beck following the quarterback’s MRI.
“I think he was pretty somber,” Smart said in a press conference after Georgia locked up the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoffs. “A tough deal for him in terms of not being able to go out there and finish in the second half. But he’s also excited for his teammates and happy that it ended the way it did, and ironically he got to be on the field for that.”
After sitting out for the second half of regulation, Beck took the game’s final snap, handing the ball off to Trevor Etienne for a 4-yard touchdown in overtime.
Backup quarterback Gunner Stockton took over in the second half and finished with 71 passing yards on 16 attempts. He added 8 rushing yards, picking up a key first down in overtime. Stockton’s helmet was knocked off during the penultimate play of the game, forcing him to the sideline. When questioned if Stockton was injured on the play, Smart has repeatedly said that Stockton was “fine” after the hit to the head.
Stockton is a notably different player from Beck, which made Georgia tweak the offense.
“He does give us the capability of doing some different things with his athleticism, and I thought Mike [Bobo] and those guys did a good job using that,” Smart said. “The team has a lot of confidence in Gunner. He’s very smart, very intelligent. So I don’t know that it’s a lot of change. It’s probably more picking the volume correctly in terms of not having everything that we have with Carson, but having things that fit Gunner.”
Georgia won’t play again until New Year’s Day, giving either Beck three weeks to get healthy or Stockton another three weeks to be prepared for the winner of Notre Dame-Indiana.
“This situation does give you time if that’s what has to happen,” Smart said. “I mean, there is time there. But, I mean, experience is so valuable, and you can’t really get experience in this amount of time. I wish [Stockton had] gotten more game experience up to this point in time. There’s not a lot we can do about that right now, so we’re just waiting to find out more information.”
In the event that Stockton moves up the depth chart, that would also slide freshman Ryan Puglisi and redshirt freshman Jaden Rashada up as well. If Beck had not been able to enter the Texas game for the final play, Smart said that it would’ve been Puglisi who went in for Stockton.
Smart gave a greater answer on the development of Puglisi and Rashada and how they have developed on Saturday.
“They’ve grown a lot since the start of the year to now. I think about all the reps they’ve taken,” Smart said. “They’ve taken a lot of reps and they get better and better and better. We come in on Monday and we go scrimmage, we call it opportunity period and we let Jaden (Rashada), Ryan (Puglisi), Colter (Ginn), all those guys get reps and they go out and throw and compete and do third downs and do move the field and get reps against the defense. And that’s their growth because we’re not getting it in quality game time.”
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
