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Georgia Football Battle Continues at Backup Quarterback for Ryan Puglisi and Ryan Montgomery

Dean Legge|
Georgia QB Ryan Puglisi passes during UGA's G Day in 2026.
Georgia QB Ryan Puglisi passes during UGA's G Day in 2026. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Georgia Bulldogs

ATHENS - The battle for backup quarterback continues for Georgia Football. Ryan Puglisi and Ryan Montgomery will be on display again Saturday against Western Kentucky.

Puglisi got the lion share of snaps last week and Georgia's lopsided win over Tennessee State, but he had some shaky throws during the blowout win. It remains to be seen if Montgomery will get more time than Puglisi with week against Western Kentucky.

“Ryan Montgomery took reps with the scout team last week,” Georgia football coach Kirby Smart said after the Bulldogs’ lopsided win over Tennessee State. “We get guys reps and don't let the sit there and not do anything. I think it helps keep them engaged. It keeps morale up, and that's important.”

The Bulldogs head into SEC play against Arkansas next week in Fayetteville.

"We'll grow those guys,” Smart said of his backup quarterbacks. “They’ll continue to work. And the hardest job we have: promising those families and kids that we're not going to sit your kid on a shelf and not let him grow.”

The backup signal caller at Georgia has often been a critical person in past UGA seasons. Starting quarterback gunner Stockton took over for an injured Carson Beck at the end of the 2024 season. Jake Fromm replaced Jacob Eason in 2017 after an injury in the first game of the season. Stetson Bennett took over the starting job in 2021 from JT Daniels after Daniels could no stay healthy enough to play.

Bennett used the opportunity to springboard UGA to its first national title in 41 years. Stockton came off the bench to lead a come-from-behind effort to beat Texas in the 2024 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.

Georgia’s game Saturday against Western Kentucky will be another opportunity for UGA to get both Puglisi and Montgomery more game experience.

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Dean Legge
DEAN LEGGE

After two-plus decades of covering the Georgia Bulldogs and the SEC, Dean Legge is one of the definitive voices in Athens and beyond. Legge has authored two books - DAWGSTRUCTION and DOUBLE DAWGS - with each chronicling Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs' run to national titles in 2021 and 2022. Legge has been a Heisman Trophy voter since 2005 and a Biletnikoff Award voter since 2009. He’s covered SEC Championships, Peach Bowls, Orange Bowls, Sugar Bowls, the Rose Bowl Game, College Football Playoff National Championship Games, the NCAA Tournament, the College World Series as well as a slew of college football, basketball and baseball games. Legge graduated from Coker College in 1999 with a degree in Political Science. He played both tennis and basketball for the Cobras. After graduating, Legge completed his academic career at the University of Georgia where he earned a Master of Public Administration from the School of Public and International Affairs in 2001. In 2008, Legge was elected President of the Coker College Alumni Association. He served on the Board of Trustees at Coker from 2009 to 2017 and was a member of the Executive Committee, Student Services and Enrollment Committee and Athletic Committee in that time. Legge is a native of Tucker, Georgia.

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