Kirby Smart and his Georgia Bulldogs will kick off their 2025 season with a game against Marshall on August 30. After an 11-3 campaign from last year, Smart and Co. will look to make the playoffs and finally the national championship. After Carson Beck left for Miami, the Bulldogs got a new quarterback in the pocket.
Gunner Stockton is expected to start for the program in 2025, having already proven his grit in last season’s Super Bowl matchup against Notre Dame.
Even though the Bulldogs lost the game, they posed a real challenge to Marcus Freeman & Co. despite not having Beck inside the pocket. While the expectations are soaring, college football insider Heather Dinich shared her predictions for the coming season.
She believes Georgia is on track to contend for the title game and happens to be the second-best team behind the Texas Longhorns in the predictor rankings for 2025.
“This is a program that is 53, and 5 over the past four years. The All-State Playoff Predictor has Georgia with the second-best chance of reaching the national title game, behind Texas,” Dinich said on Sunday’s episode of SportsCenter. [Timestamp – 3:00]
She also pondered upon Georgia’s current situation, where they have lost key players to the NFL. All 17 veterans are no longer with the program. Hence, it becomes really challenging to rebuild a formidable roster in such a short time.
“If Georgia is going to get back to that national championship game, they’ve got to do a better job in the passing game. You mentioned Gunner Stockton, but the receivers cannot drop the balls like they did last year. 35 dropped balls last year. They’ve got to find some more production out of that passing game,” she added.
Kirby Smart is amped up about his starting QB for 2025
After being a backup to Carson Beck for over a year, Gunner Stockton will finally get his chance in 2025. The preseason scrimmages have been quite productive, as per head coach Kirby Smart, who sang praises of Stockton’s development.
“Being a quarterback, understanding the game, understanding what the defense is doing. He’s grown so much in regard to that,” Smart said to the reporters last week.
He also added that quarterbacks need to multitask and need to make sure that all angles are covered during the live game. It is not just about the offense or running the ball, but the overall presence of mind. The Bulldogs’’ real challenge starts from Week 3 when they meet the Tennessee Vols on the road at Neyland Stadium.
