ATHENS – The Georgia Bulldogs kickoff the 2026 season with a game Between the Hedges in Sanford Stadium against the Tennessee State Tigers. Here are the three biggest questions coming into the game.
1. Who is UGA Football’s Backup Quarterback?
That might be the question of this game, or perhaps the first two games of the season. UGA coach Kirby Smart hasn’t said if Ryan Montgomery, Ryan Puglisi or even someone else is the Dawgs’ backup signal caller. He said after Georgia concluded its fall scrimmages that the program would have to figure out what next at practices… and in games.
“That battle’s not over. It’s one of those things that will continue to see and inevitably, you’d like to see it play out in live action,” Kirby told reporters last week. “I don’t know if we’ll get a chance to do that. But we have chances every day for them to go in critical, crucial, two-minute drives, 3rd down competitions, and they both had their good, they both had their bad, and they can continue to get better.”
Unlike many teams, Georgia doesn’t provide a two-deep depth chart to the media, so speculation has been rampant about which of the two quarterbacks is most likely to come in after Gunner Stockton on Saturday against Tennessee State, and a week later against Western Kentucky.
2. Will a breakout player emerge?
This is the time of year fans are clamoring for a player they’ve not yet seen to burst on the scene to give Georgia an edge going into the season. In years gone by that’s been anywhere from Matthew Stafford and Jacob Eason to the likes of Isaiah Crowell and A.J. Green.
But in 2026 there is no obvious star fans are waiting on. Will someone emerge from what has been a pretty quiet off-season in Athens to grab attention?
“Nobody goes out and just does something phenomenal they haven’t done in practice,” Smart said earlier this week. “What we see in practice – we see in games.”
There are two spots to pay attention to this Saturday – receiver and pass rusher. Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion should give Georgia some spake on the outside. Then there’s former Oklahoma WR Gentry Williams. Both players have experience, but it could take a little time for those two to melt into what Mike Bobo and Gunner Stockton have been doing in Athens.
“Our opponent is ourselves and that’s pretty much the case every week. I mean, the wideouts are no different,” Smart said of his receivers.
In terms of pressure on the quarterback, Smart said the Dawgs might have to adjust the way they get to the passer.
“We are not where we need to be in terms of pass rush because we’re missing some guys,” Smart said of the Dawgs’ injuries. “We’re having to do it in other ways. We’ll have to do that probably all year in terms of the way we create pressure and how we go about it.”
3. Will Georgia show explosion against an HBCU?
This has been an often-asked question this off-season. Simply put: will Georgia be more explosive with the ball on offense? The Bulldogs were very specific a year ago – they wanted to be more physical and run the ball more effectively. They did that in a major way in 2025.
This year, Smart and his program want more explosive plays on offense.
“We can be explosive if we can run the ball, and explosive passes for tight ends usually come off of play actions,” Smart said. “Play-actions only work if you have the ability to run the ball. So our ability to run the ball allows us to utilize what may be one of our stronger rooms.”
Will that happen Saturday? It should. Tennessee State is massively outmatched, and insiders have told Dawg Post repeatedly this summer that Georgia has playmakers all over the offense.
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