Georgia football: 30 greatest players of the Mark Richt era

• 2x SEC Champion (2002, 2005)
• SEC Championship Game MVP (2005)
• First-Team All-SEC (2005)
• 3,555 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, nine interceptions

Frankly, quarterback D.J. Shockley‘s numbers aren’t overly impressive when considering the great history of the position at Georgia. However, he is one thing that many Georgia quarterbacks can’t say. Shockley is a two-time SEC Champion. He comes in at No. 15 on this list of greatest Georgia players under Mark Richt.

In fact, Shockley’s inclusion on this list is significant because he was widely considered to be Richt’s first recruit to Georgia. Shockley starred for North Clayton High School for his father in College Park, Georgia. Even though David Greene was only a redshirt freshman, Shockley made a wise decision to commit to the G in 2001.

Shockley would be redshirted in 2001, as Greene took over the starting quarterback position for Quincy Carter. Once he made it through his redshirt season, Shockley would see occasional playing time under center for Georgia from 2002 to 2004 before being named starter in his redshirt senior season in 2005.

Admittedly, it was very hard for Shockley to garner playing time those first few years. That’s because Greene would become one of the winningest quarterbacks in the college game of all-time. However, when Shockley got his year as a starter in 2005, he absolutely made the most of it.

Georgia went 10-3 that season, as the Dawgs won the SEC East and the SEC Championship over the LSU Tigers in Atlanta. Shockley would be named MVP of the 2005 SEC Championship Game, as he completed six of 12 passes for 112 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran it in for six on seven attempts for 10 yards in that title bout.

Overall, Shockley completed 55.8 percent of his passes for 2,588 yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions that redshirt senior season. He finished with 3,555 career passing yards for 34 touchdowns and nine interceptions during his time at UGA.

Shockley would be named First-Team All-SEC that fall and would turn that into a seventh-round pick by his hometown Atlanta Falcons in the 2006 NFL Draft. He spent five seasons as a backup quarterback in Atlanta, but never played. Shockley current works for the Falcons organization as a football analyst.

Though he had some dual-threat ability under center for Georgia with 643 career rushing yards and seven touchdowns, it was that excellent redshirt senior season of his that Dawg Nation remembers so fondly. By biding his time and making the most of his opportunities in 2005, Shockley is certainly one of the most revered players from the Richt era in Athens.