Kirby Smart breaks down early impression of Ryan Montgomery at QB

The Georgia Bulldogs are going into the 2025 season with Gunner Stockton ready to take over at quarterback. Kirby Smart is confident in his starter. However, beyond Stockton, the Bulldogs do have interesting depth at the position, including true freshman Ryan Montgomery.

Already, Montgomery has impressed the coaches on the Georgia staff have been impressed by Montgomery. That includes Smart, who is already seeing him take on the mental challenges of the position at the college level.

“Yeah, mentally, he gets it,” Kirby Smart said. “He’s very into the mental side of it. He throws a very catchable ball, very accurate passer. A little overwhelmed at times and probably thinking too much in terms of — we give the quarterback a lot. We give a freshman quarterback a lot because it’s a lot greater than what they’re used to. But he’s handled that volume well. He does a good job processing information and taking coaching to the field, which is a good sign for a quarterback.”

Ryan Montgomery came to Georgia from Findlay, Ohio. He would be a finalist to be Ohio Mr. Football. There, he was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2025. He was also the 191st-ranked recruit and the 14th-ranked quarterback in that recruiting cycle.

Injuries did become a concern for Ryan Montgomery. An ACL tear took away his senior season of high school from him, and potentially even helped him slip under the radar as a prospect. That would also force him to miss time during the spring at Georgia, though. So, getting out and being able to play at Fall Camp has been a major step forward in his recovery.

Along with Ryan Montgomery, redshirt freshmen Ryan Puglisi and Colter Ginn, as well as true freshman Hezekiah Millender, will backup Gunner Stockton. It’s a relatively inexperienced group. However, as last season proved, Smart and the Georgia staff need to make sure they have a backup ready in case of an injury next season.

Kirby Smart reveals benefits of Georgia being a young team

The reality for Georgia is that they’re a young team with some high expectations. At the same time, Kirby Smart does believe there is some benefit to having a young team.

“Energy. Enthusiasm. Non-complacency. That’s not to label old teams as that, but you don’t have that problem with young teams,” Smart said.

“Relentless effort, connection, rewarding a teammate, hand on a helmet, body language. It’s more than just how you play. It’s what you do between the snaps… I don’t know if it was lacking in previous years. I just know that we want it, [it’s] more rewarding. We’ve always had some form of it, but it’s the analogy of small campfires. We can have all these little small campfires, or you can have a burning inferno. We want a burning inferno. We want all of these campfires to come together and be 11 burning fires — not a couple of burning bushes over here.”