At just about every turn, Kirby Smart has stated that Georgia is in the midst of a true quarterback battle between Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi.

“Yeah, I’m excited about both those guys,” Smart said at last month’s SEC spring meetings. “They’ve both played really well. They’ve both done a great job, and they’re both working their tails off. They’re Georgia football players that love Georgia.” 

But there can be only one quarterback that plays and the experience that Stockton possesses far outweighs what Puglisi brings to the table. Stockton’s playing time at the end of the 2024 season is why Smart tipped his hand in a May interview with Paul Finebaum.

Even if the second-year quarterback doesn’t start, Puglisi still knows he can become a better player this year.

And as Stockton showed a year ago, there’s tremendous value in being a backup quarterback who is ready to step up in the event your number is called.

“No matter what at Georgia, no matter who you are, no matter where you are on the depth chart, you’re always going to compete," Puglisi said in April. “I think you’re competing with yourself every day as well. You know, just trying to be better than you were yesterday and putting your head down and going to work every single day, no matter where you are on the depth chart.”

When Stockton was entering his sophomore season, he too was competing to be the team’s starting quarterback. But he had Brock Vandagriff and Carson Beck ahead of him on the depth chart.

Like Stockton now does, Beck had a leg up in playing time that gave him a winning edge when it came to becoming a starter.

Beck is perhaps a more interesting reference point when it comes to Puglisi. When JT Daniels suffered an injury during the 2021 season, Beck had a chance to step in and become the temporary starter. It was a big moment for the then-second-year quarterback.

Beck didn’t meet the moment and threw a pick-6 in Georgia’s early season win over UAB. Stetson Bennett, who started the game, threw 5 touchdowns in the game and ended any chance of Beck making a bigger impact as a redshirt freshman.

Like Beck, Puglisi didn’t get to do much during his first spring practice. Beck’s was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Puglisi dealt with a knee injury in his first spring in the program.

That made the 2025 spring practices Puglisi’s first real opportunity to grow as a player. There were some bright spots, as a touchdown pass to Colbie Young in the spring game showed.

But like with any player, there were growing pains. He was intercepted in the spring game as well.

“He’s getting experience, knowing when to pull it down and run it, when to throw it away, just game management decisions,” Smart said after G-Day. “He’s not gonna do anything but get better.”

If Puglisi is to get better this season, much of it will happen behind closed doors. Perhaps he gets an opportunity in early-season games against Marshall and Austin Peay, as Georgia will be significant favorites in those games. Georgia would also need Stockton to play well so it could have a comfortable enough lead to insert Puglisi into the contest.

Georgia though is going to need Puglisi to take the steps necessary for if and when his number is called. Stockton took some brutal hits in the Texas and Notre Dame games. Beck was a very durable player until his elbow snapped against Texas and he wasn’t.

Stockton is very much plan A at the quarterback position for Georgia. But Puglisi can’t, and doesn’t, view himself as a backup option in case something happens to Stockton.

He’s focused on making gradual improvements. Slowly but surely, for there will come a day when Puglisi is seen as the favorite to be Georgia’s starting quarterback.

“I think the biggest thing is just putting your head down and going to work every single day, regardless of the noise, regardless of what people say about you, good and bad,” Puglisi said. “I think you just have the decision to make when you wake up in the morning, am I going to get better or not today? That’s really that simple.”