UGA football: JT Daniels’ transfer prevents bad history from repeating itself

The UGA football quarterback room is stacked following the surprise transfer of USC redshirt sophomore JT Daniels on Thursday.

The quarterback battle at Georgia became a lot more interesting Thursday afternoon when JT Daniels announced his decision to transfer from Southern California to UGA football.

The news was a shock for Georgia fans who likely thought the Bulldogs were set at quarterback. Graduate transfer Jamie Newman seemingly had the starting job locked up as several oddsmakers have him as a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Carson Beck versus Brock Vandagriff was bound to be a close, competitive quarterback dual going into the 2021 season.

Adding a talented quarterback like JT Daniels into the mix changes the quarterback situation substantially. Daniels will change the situation even more if he’s granted an immediate eligibility waiver from the NCAA.

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The news of Daniels transferring was shocking, but the reasoning shouldn’t be a mystery to UGA football fans. Daniels joining the QB race certainly prevents Georgia from repeating some negative history at the position. Three times during the Mark Richt era, Georgia entered a season with uncertainty at the position following the departure of a star quarterback. Each of those seasons was forgettable and disappointing.

After D.J. Shockley led Georgia to an SEC Championship in 2005, the Bulldogs significantly downgraded at quarterback in 2006. Joe Tereshinski III couldn’t live up to Shockley or David Greene. When he succumbed to injuries twice that season, Matthew Stafford was too raw to run away with the starting job, he even lost the job to Joe Cox one week. Georgia fell to 9-4 and had to watch Florida win the National Championship.

Just three years later, after Stafford left school early, Georgia turned to Joe Cox because Richt didn’t sign another solid quarterback between Cox and Aaron Murray. Richt redshirted Murray and gave the job to Cox. The senior was serviceable and nearly tied Stafford’s record for touchdown passes in a season, but his 15 interceptions were a problem as Georgia settled for a mediocre 8-5 season.

In Richt’s last year (2015), he didn’t deem Faton Bauta or Brice Ramsey ready for a starting job and brought in graduate transfer Greyson Lambert from Virginia. Lambert didn’t even reach 2,000 passing yards and only threw 12 touchdown passes. Georgia managed to win 10 games, mostly because of the defense. The quarterback situation was a circus in the losses to Alabama and Florida.

Georgia fans shouldn’t worry about who is going to replace Jake Fromm. Jamie Newman is a really good, maybe even great quarterback with a rocket arm and peak athleticism. But if wins the starting job now, he will have earned it because JT Daniels has a ton of potential and starting experience.

If Newman is the man this year, there’s no need to worry about next year. The three-man quarterback battle between Daniels, Beck and Vandagriff will produce a player truly ready to lead the UGA football team in 2021. If Daniels wins in 2021, Beck and Vandagriff will continue to mature and develop until they’re ready to take over.

Because of decisions like this by Smart, to bring in even more talent to an already stacked quarterback room, Georgia sets itself up for the future. Smart’s Bulldogs will avoid the disappointing quarterback seasons that plagued the Mark Richt era, and ultimately helped lead to Richt’s demise in Athens.