Buck Belue has reached almost mythical status in Bulldog lore as the starter for the 1980 national championship team, so he might seem a little low here.
He was a serviceable early-80s SEC quarterback, but Belue doesn’t have the numbers or individual accolades that the others on this list have.
Having Herschel Walker, who at times seemed superhuman, in the backfield will do that to you, as Belue only had to complete one pass in the 1981 Sugar Bowl to make the Bulldogs national champs.
Still, he was the leader of one of the most fabled college football teams of all time, and his 93-yard game winning touchdown pass to Lindsay Scott to stun Florida in 1980 is the stuff of legend to this day.
9. Quincy Carter One of the most physically gifted quarterbacks to ever don the red and black, Quincy Carter had a cannon for an arm. He was even drafted 52nd overall by the Chicago Cubs in the 1996 MLB draft as an outfielder. Carter led Georgia to victories in the Peach Bowl and Outback Bowl, and was also named SEC Freshman of the Year in 1998. While his time in Athens was cut short by injuries and he struggled with consistency at times, Carter is still one of Georgia’s more accomplished quarterbacks. 8. DJ Shockley
DJ Shockley spent the first three years of his college career as a backup to David Greene and only started for one full season, but what a year it was. Shockley threw for 2,588 yards and 24 touchdowns to just five interceptions in 2005, and ran for an additional 322 yards and 4 touchdowns. Georgia upset No. 3 LSU in the SEC Championship game, with Shockley taking home MVP honors in the 34-14 blowout.
The 10-3 Bulldogs finished No. 10 on the AP Poll. Shockley took his lumps on the bench for a long time, but made the absolute most of his opportunity when it finally came, earning his spot on this list.
7. Matthew Stafford
One of the most heralded recruits in program history, the rocket-armed Matthew Stafford came to Athens with massive expectations.
His Georgia teams didn’t win nearly as much as some of the other quarterbacks on this list, but he did briefly set the school record for most touchdown passes in a season with 25 in 2008, and his 3,459 passing yards that season are still the fourth-most in program history.
After a relatively underwhelming college career, Stafford accomplished much more as a pro after joining the Detroit Lions as the
No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and winning a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.
Stafford’s time as a Bulldog is filled with more “what-if” questions than anything else, but he still did more than enough in Athens to carve out a place on this list.
6. Fran Tarkenton
Fran Tarkenton is the oldest player on this list and another who is more known for his NFL career — in this case as a Pro Football Hall of Famer for the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants.
At Georgia, Tarkenton was named First Team All-SEC twice and helped the Bulldogs win the Orange Bowl in 1960. He is regarded as one of the first great scrambling quarterbacks, and his ability to run around and extend plays was far ahead of its time.
5. Eric Zeier A statistical juggernaut during his time at Georgia, Eric Zeier left Athens as the SEC’s all-time leader in passing yards, and his 11,153 career yards are still third in Georgia history to just Aaron Murray and David Greene. His 544 passing yards against Southern Miss in 1993 remain a single-game school record.
His prolific 1993 campaign served as one of the lone bright spots for a bad Bulldogs team that finished just 5-6. While Georgia didn’t win much with Zeier under center, he is still one of the best college quarterbacks of the early 1990s.
4. Jake Fromm
Jake Fromm can be a difficult quarterback to retroactively evaluate. Fromm wasn’t the flashiest player like Justin Fields, who Fromm controversely started ahead of in 2018. Fields eventually went on to become a star at Ohio State and an eventual first round pick, while Fromm was picked in the fifth round and cut the same year Fields was drafted. However, Fromm got the job done time and time again for the Bulldogs. He helped lead the team to an SEC Championship, Rose Bowl victory and National Championship berth as a true freshman in 2017, and took home SEC Freshman of the Year for his efforts. The Bulldogs went to three straight SEC championships under Fromm and won the Sugar Bowl in 2019. He is fourth in program history with 8,224 career passing yards, and has thrown the second most touchdowns in program history with 78.
3. David Greene
David Greene’s brilliance isn’t as appreciated nearly as much as it should be. He rewrote the school record book and finished as the team’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. He also left college with the most wins in FBS history at the quarterback position, with his 42 surpassing the mark set by none other than future Pro Football Hall of Famer, Tennessee’s Peyton Manning. To this day, Greene is still second and third in school history in passing yards and touchdowns respectively.
He was SEC Championship game MVP in 2002, SEC Freshman of the Year in 2001 and his “Hobnail Boot” touchdown pass to fullback Verron Hayes as a freshman to stun No. 6 Tennessee in 2001 is, in many people’s opinion, one of Georgia football’s most legendary moments.
2. Aaron Murray
Murray is still the most prolific passer to ever tee it up between the hedges. He eclipsed 3,000 passing yards in all four of his years as Georgia’s starter, and his 13,166 career passing yards are still an SEC record. He is also still the program’s all time leader in touchdown passes, with his 121 touchdowns blowing every other Georgia quarterback out of the water. His best season came in 2012, when he threw for 3,893 yards and 36 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. After a heartbreaking loss to Alabama in the SEC championship, Georgia beat Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl and finished fifth in the AP Poll. In terms of pure individual production, you could very easily argue no Georgia quarterback has done more than Murray.
1. Stetson Bennett
Stetson Bennett, or “The Mailman,” takes the top spot. Without going into his notable origin story, that will likely be a movie at some point, Bennett is one of the most improbable success stories in football history. A two-time national champion who won offensive MVP in both games, Bennett is the single most accomplished quarterback in Georgia history by a country mile. While it’s easy to get swept up in team success when reflecting on his career, let’s not forget the individual accomplishments that Bennett holds.
In 2022, he became Georgia’s first Heisman Trophy finalist in 30 years. His 4,128 passing yards in that same season are a school record, and he threw for 27 touchdowns while tacking on another 10 on the ground. His late-game playoff heroics against the likes of Alabama and Ohio State only further cemented the former walk-on’s status as a nearly-infallible Bulldogs legend.
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