Georgia Football: Trio of Bulldog QBs included on ESPN's 75 since 2000

It’s that time of year when football couldn’t feel further away – even though we’re down to double digit days until kickoff (!!!). Still, things like meaningless rankings or debates over stadiums (shoutout Sanford Stadium) steal headlines. The latest among those topics is ESPN’s ranking of college quarterbacks since the year 2000, a list that includes a trio of Georgia Bulldogs.

David Greene (2001-04) – No. 69

ESPN writes: The starter for Mark Richt’s first four years in Athens, Greene produced consistent numbers and finished his career with a then-record 42 wins, topping Peyton Manning’s record.

Greene’s Georgia career consisted of 11,528 passing yards and 72 touchdowns in four seasons. He finished his career as the winningest quarterback in NCAA history and as the SEC all-time career leader in yards gained – both marks that have since been passed.

Greene guided Georgia to a SEC Championship in 2002, the program’s first since 1982 and a Sugar Bowl victory. He earned SEC Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2001 and SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2002. In 2004, Greene threw 214 straight passes without an interception. He was the quarterback who threw the famous “Hobnail Boot” pass to Verron Haynes in Georgia’s 2001 victory on the road over No. 5 Tennessee.

Aaron Murray (2010-13) – No. 43

ESPN writes: Murray resurrected the Mark Richt era in Athens, leading the Dawgs to within seconds of the BCS Championship game in 2012 and not only finishing with the most passing yards in the history of the SEC, but finishing nearly 1,000 yards ahead of second-place Drew Lock and nearly 2,000 yards ahead of third-place David Greene.

Murray was a four-year starter for Georgia to start a new decade. After redshirting in 2009, Murray set a UGA freshman record with 3,049 passing yards in 13 games. He also tied DJ Shockley’s mark for total touchdowns in a single season with 2 before breaking it in each of the next three.

Murray threw for over 3,000 yards all four seasons as a starter (the first SEC quarterback to do so), totaling 13,166 yards for his career. He completed 121 touchdown passes and added another 16 on the ground giving him a grand total of 137 in his career. He holds the SEC career touchdown record mark and helped guide Georgia to a pair of SEC Championship Game appearances.

Stetson Bennett (2019-22) – No. 37

ESPN writes: He won the starting job in 2020 and 2021 only because others got injured, but damned if he didn’t make the most of his opportunities. In 2021-22, he produced the second-best Total QBR, completed 67% of his passes and, oh yeah, won a pair of national titles. In four career CFP games, he threw for 1,239 yards and 12 TDs. Not bad for a former walk-on.

Bennett became the first Georgia quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a single season as he was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy finishing fourth in voting. He brought home the Burlsworth Trophy as the nation’s top former walk-on and the Manning Award for the top quarterback in the country including postseason performance. He threw for 300 yards or more in six games during the 2022 season including each of the College Football Playoff outings. Combining for 37 touchdowns passing and rushing, Bennett led the Bulldogs to a perfect 15-0 record that included wins over Oregon in the season-opener, a No. 1 ranked Tennessee team plus LSU in the SEC Championship, Ohio State in the Peach Bowl and TCU for the National Championship.

Bennett helped lead a comeback effort in the win over the Buckeyes as he threw for 190 yards in the fourth quarter alone. Bennett won Offensive MVP for the effort and would follow that up with an even more impressive outing in the National Championship Game totaling six touchdowns in a 65-7 win over TCU. Just as he had in the both SEC Championship and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Bennett took home MVP honors.

Should guys like Matthew Stafford or even Jake Fromm have made the cut? How about DJ Shockley? We’ll leave that for you all to debate. After all, it is just May and we’ve got a whole summer’s worth of stuff to discuss!