By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton are very much in the competition for QB1.

We hear that Vandagriff’s performance on G-Day was hurt by a few dropped balls. What fans saw, however, was clear.

Carson Beck is Georgia’s starting quarterback this upcoming season!

That does not mean Beck will finish the season there. Nor does it mean Beck has the clutch gene (a la Stetson Bennett) and will be the one to lead Georgia to a third consecutive national championship.

There are necessary caveats. Beck benefited from playing with the first-team offense, which meant he had top skill-position receivers on the offensive line.

What I saw was Beck getting the first five of those drives, producing 24 points while he threw for 211 yards.

Vandagriff went in during the second half, and started off throwing an interception, then leading two more zero-point drives.

Vandagriff seemed a bit tentative on decision-making, which you can afford when you can run.

A strong QB knows that often it is best to get the ball out. Vandagriff’s running ability is alluring; it’s tempting to give him the benefit of the doubt, roll him out there and watch the fun.

At this point, however, Vandagriff’s upside seems outweighed by Beck’s skill set. The downfield throwing ability, his arm, the decision-making; it all looks like it’s there for Beck, and Vandagriff appears more as a high risk-high reward stock option.

If there is legitimate concern about Beck, it’s whether he has matured enough from his first two seasons, when by his own admission he needed to mature.

On the field, he didn’t know the system well enough and did not work hard enough to know it. Off the field, he missed a few too many classes or study halls.

Saturday’s game was also an example of how Beck has matured as a quarterback. He wasn’t out there showing off his arm. He was excelling in touch and timing passes. He was calm and confident in the pocket.

That does not mean Beck will prove the right choice in games to come. The flaws that were there a few years ago might not have gone away.

At some point, coaches must go with what you see. None of the three quarterbacks has proved themselves in a real game. Often coaches don’t know what they have until the games begin.

Georgia does have three good options. This is not 2015 when the team finished spring not sure the right guy was on campus and went out and imported its eventual starter.

This year is a classic, pre-portal-era quarterback situation where three veterans who waited their turn and developed are being considered.

Georgia, of all the luxuries it has these days, enjoys being able to pick a quarterback who has waited and developed.

And after the Spring Game, it seems pretty clear which one has developed the most.