Five for Friday: UGA Will Have Impact Freshman, Hoop Dawgs Get Big Check
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ATHENS – The Georgia Bulldogs have a ton of returning starters, including quarterback Gunner Stockton. Is he being undervalued nationally right now?
Kirby Smart has never been too shy to play true freshmen if they are good enough to get on the field. Right now, there seems to be three players from the 2026 class that are going to make an immediate impact on this year’s roster.
Here is what is going on in the football world right now. Five for Friday is here:
1. Where is UGA’s QB Situation According to ESPN?
Davis Hale of ESPN, a friend of Dawg Post, was tasked with ranking all 138 FBS starting quarterback “situations.” I don’t see how that is not just a ranking of the quarterbacks.
He put players into tiers and named the tiers. Here are the first few, including Gunner Stockton:
Tier 1A: “Room at the Top”
- Darian Mensah, Miami
- Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
- Arch Manning, Texas
- CJ Carr, Notre Dame
Tier 1B: “Great but also has Jeremiah Smith”
- Julian Sayin, Ohio State
Tier 2: “Are You Not Entertained?”
- Sam Leavitt, LSU
- Dante Moore/Dylan Raiola, Oregon
- Jayden Maiava, USC
Tier 3: “The Sean Clifford Zone”
- Gunner Stockton, Georgia
- Marcel Reed, Texas A&M
- Devon Dampier, Utah
- Rocco Becht, Penn State
- John Mateer, Oklahoma
- Josh Hoover, Indiana
I will not list further. My comments are incoming.
I think we are jumping the gun on CJ Carr a little bit. Putting him in the top tier is premature to me. He put together a really good freshman season, but I want to see what he looks like without college football’s best running back duo that just got drafted in the first round. I get it with the other QBs in that tier.
Why is Gunner Stockton in the “Sean Clifford zone”? He just led Georgia to an SEC Championship and 12 wins in his first season as the starter. A jump is likely.
I don’t really have a problem with Stockton being roughly a top-10 quarterback in the country. I think that is about right. Plus, he will be backed by a better offensive line, running back room and tight end room than most of the other good signal-callers.
2. Will Georgia Have Impact Freshman in 2026?
The way things stand right now, I think Georgia will have three impactful true freshmen in 2026, and all three of them are on offense: TE/WR Kaiden Prothro, WR Craig Dandridge and OL Zykie Helton.
Kaiden Prothro played most of his snaps at G Day from the slot even though he is listed as a tight end. Georgia has so many capable tight ends that they don’t need him there. This is the type of player that can be a huge wide receiver. He looked the part this spring as well.
Georgia’s wide receiver room is wide open. There is no true star or even starting player that has a carved out role with all of those that left this offseason. Prothro holds the state record in Georgia with 66 touchdown receptions in high school. We saw him score at G Day. He could be the strongest redzone threat on the team as a true freshman.
Craig Dandridge Jr. made the case that he might already be one of Georgia's best wide receivers at G Day. Like I just mentioned, there are no set roles at wide receiver for Georgia. If Dandridge is better than the trio of 2025 receivers, he will play more than them.
The Georgia native connected with Stockton for the quarterback’s longest completion at G Day, going for 33 yards. He was also tied with CJ Wiley for the most targets on the starting offense that day. A top-100 player in this recruiting class, Dandridge is already trending in the right direction.
Zykie Helton made huge waves this spring. The Carrollton product rolled out there with the starting offensive line at G Day. He was the guard opposite of Dontrell Glover and commanded the majority of first-team snaps at that spot. If Helton is ready to be a starter as a true freshman, that will give Georgia more versatility on the line and the ability to move Juan Gaston Jr. to tackle, which is what he was recruited to do.
3. Want Georgia Basketball to Take the Next Step? Turn on NBA Playoffs
Georgia basketball just got a $10 million donation from the founder of PrizePicks - the largest single donation in program history.
Look, this is the next step towards the future. The Dawgs need money to compete for a talented roster. Georgia has made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments and is making strides in an SEC that is more competitive than ever. But, the roster hasn’t been good enough to make it past the first round or far in the conference tournament.
Yes, historically Georgia has never been great at basketball or had consistently strong talent, but this is a new era of college athletics, and this state is one of the best breeding grounds. It is time to pay up for some real talent and get the ball rolling on consistently bringing in top players.
AJ Dybantsa, the top player from the 2025 class and probably No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, did his one-and-done year at BYU, so don’t tell me the top guys can’t come to Georgia in this era.
Go look at the NBA playoffs. Stephon Castle was an hour away from Athens in high school. He is an integral part of the Spurs’ playoff run. So is Devin Vassell. Jaylen Brown was the Finals MVP two years ago.
These are just a few examples. Bringing in NBA talent will attract supporting casts as well.
$10 million could go a long way. We are talking about bringing in multiple high four-stars or five-stars with that kind of money if that is how the program chooses to spend it.
4. Georgia Baseball is Latest in String of Success
Georgia is the No. 3 seed and hosting in the regionals. The Dawgs just won the SEC baseball tournament for the first time in school history. There are real championship aspirations here.
If it wasn’t before, Georgia is becoming an everything school. UGA is competitive or one of the best in pretty much every sport. I feel like the institution doesn’t get enough credit for this.
The football team is always going to get the most attention no matter how it is performing, but whenever I see lists that regard a university being well-rounded athletically, I always see Florida and Michigan on those lists. It is time that Georgia gets more credit.
I was talking about Georgia basketball in the last section. That team making tournaments again is another example. Georgia athletics can compete for a championship in almost any sport.
5. Should Atlanta Push to Have an NHL Team Again?
I know there is a push to build an NHL-ready arena in Forsyth County. So, this is something that could be in the works already.
The NHL is considering expanding and Atlanta is among the strongest candidates.
Would this work up in Forsyth County? Is that too far up? There is plenty of money in that area, but I think interest needs to be established. Another proposed location is to redevelop the North Point Mall site. I think that area might make more sense.
The Thrashers left for Winnipeg when I was a kid, so I never really had a tie to them. I adopted the New York Rangers because of my grandpa. Even though I am a casual hockey consumer, I don’t think I could completely ditch the Rangers if Atlanta was granted a new team. In that situation, I would support both squads.
Would it be the Atlanta Thrashers again? I feel like we can come up with something cooler. I like the bird theme, but this would be an opportunity for a fresh brand. The Thrashers weren’t that iconic anyway. It is not the same thing as people begging for the Seattle Supersonics to come back.
If the Florida Panthers (out in what I would consider to be the middle of nowhere South Florida) can be a successful hockey club, then why can’t there be one in Atlanta?
