ROWE: Enjoy the competition because it’s easy to root for Georgia’s QBs

ATHENS, Ga. — Your guess is probably as good as mine when it comes to who Georgia’s starting quarterback will be. I, like most, give Carson Beck the edge because he has the most experience and looked great last year, but Brock Vandagriff is very much in the mix and trending in the right direction.

Throw in the young and ultra-quiet Gunner Stockton, and, as we’ve said, this thing is going to rage on for awhile. Georgia, one, wants to keep all three guys around as long as possible but, two, if it is trying to keep any of them from walking away, it must mean they have something (probably a lot more) to offer.

Beck and Vandagriff met with reporters after Tuesday’s practice. It was the first time that they have been a part of the “selected players” sent to speak at the podium.

As the reporters who make up the UGA beat waited for the two signal callers to arrive, we talked about how fruitless the session, that wound up being nearly 24 minutes in total, would probably be. Georgia isn’t in the habit of trotting players out who have a lot of interesting things to say.

No planets were shattered nor ground broken but Beck and Vandagriff both accomplished at least one thing. They did enough to make this reporter a fan of each. I don’t care who wins the job, who stays, who transfers, etc. I’ll be wishing both the best.

But why?

We’ve all heard and probably used the expression, “act like you’ve been there before.” I can’t be certain whether Beck or Vandagriff were trying to live that out last night, but it seemed effortless. They handled questions like they’ve done it for years.

Maybe it’s because they’ve been toiling away in borderline anonymity for years. Vandagriff hasn’t really been in the thick of the position battle since he arrived more than two years ago. Beck hasn’t really been a challenger since week two of the 2022 season when Stetson Bennett began his ascent to the front of the pack.

The buzz they both experienced and were probably motivated at times while they were in high school? A non factor. Ass chewings from Todd Monken and Buster Faulkner about what went wrong against the No. 2 or 3 defense in a seemingly meaningless red zone period in the first preseason scrimmage? More than likely prevalent.

Beck’s mindset…

Still, if any entitlement exists within Beck, after three years of work with little crunch-time game film out there, it’s not showing. Yeah, he believes he should be the guy but that has nothing to do with how long he has been around or the loyalty he has shown to UGA.

“Every year is individual of itself,” Beck said. “I think every quarterback, honestly, should feel that way every single year they step into it. Even last year with Stetson, he just came off a national championship. Of course, every day I walked out there, I felt like I was the guy. I think that’s the mindset that you have to have at the position of quarterback because there’s only one guy out there. When you get your opportunity, you have to seize it.”

I asked the question that drew that response. I asked Beck (paraphrasing) whether or not he had to fight against the idea that, “I’ve been around a long time, this job should be mine.” He dove right in. He doesn’t guard against it and it’s nothing new. Beck has wanted and feels like he should have gotten this job a long time ago.

But it hasn’t stopped him from working or trying to reach his potential. It also hasn’t soured him on the school he chose to sign with over three tumultuous and triumphant years ago.

Vandagriff’s mindset…

The son of a high school coach says he learned a lot on the practice fields of Prince Avenue Christian School. To hear him tell it, he learned most of it the hard way.

Vandagriff can recall times where he ran after practice because of something he did or said to his father on the practice field. He indicated that there were times when he was right and his dad was wrong but the practice field is no place to make that point.

Whether it was those lessons learned, his upbringing or the Christian faith he spoke about Tuesday night — maybe a combination of all three and more — there’s a humility to Vandagriff. It came through when he was asked about his journey at Georgia and why he hasn’t yet moved on.

“So with my mindset, what I put into that was that I’m learning stuff and getting better under Coach Monken and now Coach (Mike )Bobo,” Vandagriff said. “If I wasn’t getting reps and I wasn’t getting better then yeah, I would have left.

“But being able to know that my game is getting better mentally and physically, and I’m learning so much about the game of football and I’m going against one of the best defenses, one of the most fast-paced defenses in the SEC and the nation, I was becoming a better player for that. So that was some of the main reasons. I was being a better player for it.”

It’s what we see and hear…

Again, we can’t be sure of how any of Georgia’s quarterbacks truly feel about their situation or the competition in general. Beck and Vandagriff said the right things and we expected them to do just that.

But they said the right things and they did so in the right way. They comported themselves as if they were part of a program with a championship DNA, one that has had a process in place since before they arrived.

Each triggerman has been immersed in that process for awhile — Beck for more than three, Vandagriff for more than two, and Stockton for more than a year. For lack of a better way to say it, it felt real.

Now let’s see who wins this thing because, ultimately, that’s all that will be remembered.

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