Georgia football: Top 10 quarterbacks in school history

8. Buck Belue (1978-81)

There may be no player more underrated in Georgia football history than Buck Belue. This is one example where a good player got overshadowed by an all-time great player. For his final two years, a then for the following 36 years, Belue is has only been know as the quarterback who handed the ball off to Herschel Walker. Even Belue jokes that he had the easiest job on the team.

While Walker definetely made Blue’s career at Georgia easier, teams couldn’t afford to overlook Belue.

As a personal example, me at 21 years old once decided to watch some old Georgia football games and I chose one day to watch the 1981 game against Tennessee. The Bulldogs won the game 44-0 so I expected a Herschel Walker highlight film.

I did see a lot of dominant plays from Walker, but I was really impressed by Belue.

In fact, that really describes Belue’s whole career at Georgia. You go to watch someone else, and quietly Belue. is doing plenty of damage himself.

Belue finished his career at Georgia with 3,864 yards and 32 touchdowns in three years as a starter. His junior year, he had 1,314 yards with 11 touchdowns and his senior year he accumulated 1,603 yards with 12 touchdowns. Of course those stats don’t look great today, but they were decent in the early 1980’s.

Belue is also known for his championships. As we all know, Georgia won the SEC Championship in 1980 and 1981, and a National Championship in 1980.

But Belue is most known for the play to beat Florida in 1980 to remain undefeated. While Lindsay Scott ran 80-plus yards, Belue had to scramble just to find Scott. It’s a clutch play by someone you really wouldn’t think was a clutch quarterback.

That’s what Belue did though. He let you think all he was doing was handing-off to Walker.