Georgia football: Top 10 quarterbacks in school history
7. D.J. Shockley (2002-05)
D.J. Shockley is a lot like Fran Tarkenton in a lot of ways. Spent his first years as a backup before becoming a starter. They’re both scramblers who played a lot even as backups before taking over as a senior.
Shockley spent his first three years as David Greene’s backup, but Richt would often reward him by putting him on the field throughout games and not just when Georgia was blowing out opponents.
It didn’t matter how close the game was. As a freshman he played against Clemson, South Carolina, Florida and Auburn. All close games decided by a touchdown or less. He even had a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown in the 31-28 win over Clemson.
Shockley finished 2002 with 415 passing yards with five touchdowns and 107 rushing yards with two touchdowns.
He only appeared in six games in 2003 after getting injured. That led to a dip in stats to just 88 passing yards and 101 rushing yards with one touchdown each.
Shockley returned in 2004 and appeared in 10 games and threw for 464 yards with one touchdown and ran for another 113 yards. Once again, he appeared in games regardless of how close they were including games against Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin.
2005 was Shockley’s year though. David Greene was gone and there was no doubt who would take over. Shockley proved early on that he wasn’t just a backup. Against Boise State, Shockley had 289 passing yards with five touchdowns, and 88 rushing yards with another touchdown.
Georgia went on to win the SEC Championship that year and Shockley passed for 2,588 yards with 24 touchdowns and only five interceptions.
In his career, Shockley had 3,555 yards with 34 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.