The 2025 season is yet to lift the curtains, but somebody is already in deep soup. That’s none other than the Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart. They are still carrying the burden of the 2024 playoffs elimination. So, the seat is already hot for Smart. His seat got hotter with Carson Beck serving him with one of the biggest blows by boarding Mario Cristobal’s program. In case Smart might have thought that Gunner Stockton would make sure that he doesn’t miss Beck anymore, that’s not going to happen, as an analyst came up with a reality check. If Smart thinks that’s enough of an awakening, here comes some more. Having known for their two strong limbs the QB and the tighend room, they are going to be crippled this season.
Just when Smart might have thought of starting things afresh, leaving the past behind, the head coach got unlucky. One major prediction in particular involves the Georgia Bulldogs and their College Football Playoff hopes. In one of ESPN’s articles, the Dawgs are listed as a team that is expected to miss this year’s playoffs. “For the better part of three seasons, the Bulldogs seemed invincible. Only an injury-plagued one-score loss to Alabama in the 2023 SEC title game might have prevented Georgia from winning three straight national championships.” However, Smart’s once dominant program lost all its charm in 2024. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Georgia’s 2024 season was the struggles the team had running the pigskin.
Georgia ended the season averaging just 124.4 rushing yards per game, by far the worst of the Smart era in Athens. This was paired up with a bigger turn down, a crippling defense. It brought their ranking to No.67 and 13th in the SEC. Now, Smart got his main character, Stockton, ready, who attacked the rehab every day to make a comeback from his knee injury. But turns out that looking at 2025, Smart is going to feel that 2024 was much better. On the May 20th episode of the See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack podcast, analyst Josh Pate came up with his take.“For all the negatives and all the faults that people want to throw at Carson Beck, I got no problem with it or throw at Mike Bobo, I got no problem with it.”
He then addressed the elephant in the room, “There’s also this little thing that you need to remember they were a top 15 passing offense last year at least so last year they could bail themselves out somewhat not being able to run the ball because they they did know they can throw the ball.” Georgia’s offensive struggles are not all Beck’s fault. His supporting cast simply wasn’t as good as it was a year ago. The Bulldogs were without two monumental pieces of the offense that finished top five nationally in 2023. They were two-time Mackey Award-winning tight end Brock Bowers and All-SEC wide receiver Ladd McConkey. Now that Stckton is here, will he ward off Smart’s woes?
Pate continued, “That’s not a slide against Gunner Stockton. What I’m saying is it’s less proven that they can just blanketly lean on being able to do that.” That’s because Stockton is yet to push him into the upper crust of SEC quarterbacking, even though he had great feats against powerhouses like Texas and Notre Dame. The expectations are not high. Smart will not expect him to be a Superman, but just be more consistent than what Beck was. While Smart will have to keep Stockton under tight security, here comes another harsh wake-up call.
David Pollack rips the band-aid off Kirby Smart’s wounds
The 2024 did end on a sour note for Smart’s squad, they indeed had a sweet beginning. Their off-season position rankings had woven a happy picture. Their quarterback position was ranked No.4 by On3 and No.2 by CBS. After all they Beck was entering his second season sharing the boat with guys like Stockton, Jaden Rashada, and Ryan Puglisi. More than the quarterback room, Smart’s linebacker room raised their expectations 100x. On3 ranked the linebacker position as No.1 with Mykel Williams, who was yet to expose his best version, along with second-year inside linebackers CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson.
Turns out, as soon as Smart stepped into 2025, he caught some bad juju. And David Pollack thought of spreading some salt on the Bulldogs’ head coach’s fresh wounds. “Look at the Georgia roster, and I go where is the position group that is going to dominate?.. Last year I could pick several positions. I could pick a returning quarterback that was elite of elite, I could pick linebackers that were all over the field that were great a a safety that we knew were getting picked in the first round.”
Already, the stakes are sinking for Kirby Smart’s new QB1 Gunner Stockton. According to Brad Crawford’s SEC QB rankings, Stockton is the No. 12 quarterback out of the 16 projected starting QBs in the SEC. If you think that’s enough bad news for Smart, hold on! Stockton is ranked behind players like Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed (No. 11), who managed to score zero offensive points against Texas last season. No surprises here—the Bulldogs’ playoff hopes were DOA.
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