Emptying The Notebook: New notes from Georgia offseason, one name keeps coming up

Another week has passed in the 2025 offseason. Before you know it, they’ll be strapping on full pads for the first time in spring practice. For now, Georgia is doing all of its work behind closed doors and DawgsHQ is always digging for info. Below, we share what we’ve heard and the thoughts we’ve jotted down this week.

*** Gunner Stockton is way, way ahead in this quarterback competition thing but hearing a little more about Ryan Puglisi now that more eyes seem to be on him. Despite not having played a snap of college ball yet, Puglisi has very much helped set the tone for winter throwing sessions.

There are some things he has to work out in his game, to be sure. I’m told that he can fall into bad habits when it comes to trying to drive the football to every spot on the field rather than layering throws in and using more touch. I’m sure the game needs to slow down for him some and that’ll happen with time. But his physical talent and mental makeup are major strengths based what I’ve been hearing of late.

*** Looking at the running back position, I’m told that Roderick Robinson and Branson Robinson are progressing well from their injuries. I spoke to a source on Thursday who is pretty confident that Branson will be full go for spring. There’s a chance Roderick could get some work, too.

The thing I have to question with Branson is where he will be mentally. That’s three injuries to the same knee now. He tore his patellar tendon before the 2023 season. Then he suffered the sprained MCL before tearing his meniscus and going under the knife again. That’s a lot of pain, discomfort, and long hours of rehab vs. not much football over the past two seasons.

I know the staff is high on Chauncey Bowens and I personally believe he has a chance to make a huge move this spring if he can stay healthy. That No. 2 tailback job is wide open.

I do expect Georgia to look in the spring portal at running back but, as we’ve said many times, it all depends on who goes in and what they’re looking for. No, I’m not talking about money either. I’m talking about situation. There were a couple of running backs in the most recent window who weren’t thrilled fired up about sharing carries with Nate Frazier.

*** Four of Georgia’s freshman wideouts enrolled early and we’ve heard some good things on a couple of them already. The one name that just keeps coming up over and over, however, is CJ Wiley. When you check in with folks who see throwing sessions or are in a position to share what’s being said coming out of them, his name comes up almost every time. That’s without specifically asking for youngsters. I’d love to be able to paint you a mental picture of what is going on out there, but all I can say is that his name just keeps coming up.

*** It’s not a huge notebook today but I do have one more note on the defensive side of the ball. In talking with a source earlier this week about the outside linebacker/EDGE position and what Georgia will do, I learned something about the way the inside linebackers prepare.

I’m told that the inside linebackers, every spring and preseason camp, do quite a bit of pass rush and block protection stuff and it’s the same stuff as the outside linebackers. The term used was “pass-rush boot camp.” Now how does that relate to Georgia being thing at outside backer?

There’s some overlap at the position and that’s going to be big this spring. There’s no way around it. Georgia is going to need to use some inside linebacker bodies at outside linebacker. The good news is it has guys like Kris Jones, Chris Cole, and Zayden Walker, who have the body type for the position. In the case of Jones and Walker, they’ve actually played the position at the high school level. In speaking with that same source, they expect Georgia to get at least two of those guys in EDGE-development mode and leave them there for a bit.

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