UGA Football: Red Team Tops Black At G-Day Game
Georgia, winners of back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships, had about a dozen of last season’s standouts back on Dooley Field during the game, including quarterback Stetson Bennett, linebacker Nolan Smith and wideout Kearis Jackson. During a first-half timeout, they were recognized in front of the sprited crowd of 54,458, and got the chance to show off their new national championship rings.
While all those now-former Bulldogs looked on, Saturday’s spring practice finale featured an offense-heavy opening half in which both the Red and Black teams gained more 230 yards. Neither team got much going in the second half as more and more reserves took the field. The Black finished with 346 yards of offense to the Red’s 288.
Carson Beck, who is competing to take over the starting quarterback job, got off to a perfect start leading the Red team. His first pass went for seven yards, to running back Cash Jones out of the backfield. His second throw was a 17-yard completion to wideout Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, and his third was a 39-yard completion to All-American tight end Brock Bowers.
The Red squad’s first drive ended with a two-yard Arian Smith end-around run for a touchdown. Liam Badger kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Red lead with 11:37 left in the first quarter
Brock Vandagriff began the game running the Black offense. His first big play was with his legs, a 23-yard run up the left side. The Black squad’s opening drive ended with a 42-yard field goal by Jared Zirkel, cutting the Red lead to 7-3 with 6:17 left in the first.
Beck continued to connect on his second drive, completing all three of his passes, including a 17-yarder to tight end Oscar Delp and a 37-yarder to wideout Ladd McConkey down to the Black 9. Running back Sevaughn Clark ran the ball in from the 9 to make it 14-3 Red.
After two drives, Beck was 6-for-6 for 124 yards. His next attempt fell incomplete, but he followed that with a 10-yard completion to wideout Dominic Lovett and a 30-yarder to Dillon Bell as the first quarter expired.
The Red team’s third drive also resulted in a touchdown, a 6-yard strike from Beck to Smith, pushing the lead to 21-3 for the Red. Vandagriff and the Black team answered right back on the next drive. Vandagriff hit receiver Jackson Meeks for 19 yards, tight end Lawson Luckie for 22, and then his 12-yard connection with Meeks turned into a 29-yard touchdown as Black squad teammates pushed the pile into the end zone, making it 21-10 Red with 11:22 left in the half.
Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton alternated drives running the Black offense, and Stockton’s second featured a 28-yard third-down completion to wideout Zeed Haynes up the left side. It ended with a 4-yard Stockton touchdown run with 3:43 to play in the half, cutting the Red lead to 21-16.
The Red team stretched its lead to 24-16 with 1:20 remaining in the half on Badger’s 51-yard field goal. The Black team, with Stockton running the hurry-up, marched down the field quickly thanks to a 54-yard completion to Mekhi Mews down to the 2. The Black had to settle for a 30-yard Zirkel field goal, however, and the Red took a 24-19 lead into halftime.
At the half, Vangagriff and Beck changed teams, allowing Vandagriff to work with the first-team offense in the second half. Beck finished the opening half 13 of 18 passing for 211 yards and a touchdown. Working with the second unit, Vandagriff was 5 of 6 passing for 80 yards and a touchdown, while Stockton completed 6 of 11 passes for 100 yards.
Vandagriff’s first drive running the Red squad ended in the game’s first turnover, a leaping interception by Black team defensive back Tykee Smith. The first touchdown of the second half came on an interception of Stockton and 21-yard return by freshman linebacker Raylen Wilson in the fourth quarter.
Running the Red offense, Vandagriff finished up 4 of 11 for 40 yards. Beck only played one series with the Black and was 2-for-4 for 20 yards, and Stockton ended his day 13 of 22 for 144 yards. Vandagriff returned in the final minutes to lead the Black offense and on the game’s final play he connected with Mews for a 10-yard touchdown, making it 31-26 Red. Vandagriff’s final numbers with the Black squad were 9 of 14 for 135 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, freshman defensive back AJ Harris led the Red team with six tackles, while redshirt sophomore linebacker Xavian Sorey led the Black with seven stops.
The G-Day game was the football team’s first public appearance since the tragic deaths of offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staff member Chandler LeCroy in an automobile accident in January. The Bulldogs remembered their fallen teammate and colleague with an intentional delay of game penalty before the first play from scrimmage, and Georgia’s offense took the field with only 10 men and without an offensive lineman at left guard.
Prior to the game, Georgia unveiled Uga XI, named Boom, during a ceremonial collar transfer. Boom is a 10-month-old English Bulldog, and he has some big paw prints to fill. Uga X, known as Que, is retiring after a great run that began in 2015. Que is the winningest Uga of all time, having roamed the sidelines as the Bulldogs won back-to-back national championships and two SEC titles.
The Bulldogs will be back at Sanford Stadium on Sept. 2, when they open the 2023 season against UT Martin.
Head Coach Kirby Smart
Opening Statement
“First off like always, I’d like to thank the fans for turning out. It turned out to be a warm day. A lot warmer than it was for our scrimmages. We had one scrimmage where it rained and one scrimmage where it was nice and cool. That was warm. We needed that for all the other scrimmages we’ve had, to kind of push through. You find out a lot about guys’ physical and mental toughness when you have heat. How you respond? A lot of guys had to play more snaps than they are used to. I was really pleased with the effort. I thought it was a tale of two halves. We had a first half where we lit it up on offense and didn’t think we could stop anything defensively. Then flip that over in the second half. We couldn’t score any points. Obviously, we have to improve in both of those areas, but there were some positive things that came out of today, too. Some guys played well. I thought we did some good things on both sides of the ball. We have to continue to do that to get better. I thought we got out relatively healthy. That was big for today. Some guys have been injured coming into today, but we didn’t really lose anybody today, which is big when you play tackle football.”
On what he learned about this football team over the Spring…
“I have always said, we are built to sustain here…We are not trying to be a one hit wonder. I want to put a really good football team out there each year, and we are well on our way to doing that at this time. We probably have the most cohesive unit we’ve had at this time in terms of the guys love being with each other, they like practicing hard. We had 14 of the 15 days where I really thought we had good practices. That includes today. I was really pleased with their work ethic. They like practicing. They like football. When people come to your practices, and they’ve been to seven other schools and say ‘Man, y’all get after it. Man, your guys prate hard. Man, your guys buy in and have fun’ it makes me feel better that our kids enjoy it.”
On the quarterbacks…
“It’s hard because I’ve got to go back and watch the tape as always. I thought both of them had good composure, good pocket presence. I thought Brock used his legs several times to break out of there and take off running. Brock unfortunately had some guys that dropped the ball on him. I thought the balls were really well thrown and should’ve been caught. He did a nice job in the pocket of making those throws and then Gunner did some really good things. I was really pleased with all three quarterbacks and what you saw today was some of what we’ve seen all spring. We have three good quarterbacks who can make the throws and do a really good job, I was pleased with those guys.”
Postgame Quotes – Georgia Players
2023 Georgia G-Day Game
April 15, 2023 | Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium
#96 Zion Logue | Sr. | DL
On how his role as a leader has changed…
“It’s been an amazing thing just to see guys looking up to me and looking for my wisdom and my answers. That’s the biggest thing for me is just being there when guys need me.”
On what the defensive line improved on most this spring…
“Trusting each other and leaning on each other. I’ve seen, as the camp went on, we are all closer, and I like that.”
#32 Chaz Chambliss | Jr. | OLB
On the freshmen today…
“They had great effort. They may not always know what to do on every play, but they showed great effort and great ability.”
On what he can overcome with playing hard…
“Just playing hard you can be places that you were supposed to be but you weren’t. You can make plays on the field when you’re coming down; you can make plays in the pass game.”
On how he felt about the game as a whole…
“Overall, as a team, we played our hearts out today. Defense started out a little slow, but we made adjustments and got better in the second half.”
#19 Brock Bowers | Jr. | TE
On the quarterbacks …
“They both come out every day just ready to work. One of them has a good day and one of them has a bad day sometimes. They always just bounce back and keep grinding. They’re making each other better just competing in that room.”
On playing for new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo…
“It’s a lot of the same stuff like a lot of the same terminology with just a little twist here and there. It was an easy transition and everyone loves playing for him out here. So it’s been fun.”
#11 Arian Smith | Jr. | WR
On what keeps the team motivated after winning two national championships…
“I feel like everybody has different reasons that keep them motivated. Everybody has their own ‘why’ and has their own specific reason. But I feel like we just want to win. Nobody likes to lose. We just want to win.”
On what it means for the Red Team to win G-Day…
“It feels good. I’m eating good Monday!”