ATHENS — We’re under two weeks from the early signing period.

By then, we’ll have a definitive answer on whether Jared Curtis is in fact a Georgia Bulldog or if those Vanderbilt rumors proved to be more substantial than that.

Curtis has been committed to Georgia since May. Yet Vanderbilt continues to push for the services of the No. 3 overall player in the 2026 recruiting cycle.

This is not the first time in Kirby Smart’s tenure that there has been late drama regarding a 5-star Georgia commitment. In the 2024 recruiting cycle, Dylan Raiola flipped at the 11th hour to Nebraska from Georgia. The believed quarterback of the future for the Bulldogs would never be a Bulldog at all.

But the loss of that 5-star quarterback didn’t prove to be crippling for the program. In large part because of what it already had on its roster.

Gunner Stockton — who outplayed Raiola this season even before the Nebraska quarterback suffered a season-ending injury — was already on the roster for Georgia at that point in time.

Stockton has blossomed into one of the best quarterbacks in the country, earning legitimate Heisman Trophy buzz.

“Gunner doesn’t care about that stuff at all, but just me being, you know, one of his best friends and his roommate, I see it every day at practice,” tight end Oscar Delp said. “I mean, we’re playing the biggest games in the country, and he’s dominating. So it’s kind of crazy that he’s not talked about more. I don’t know what goes into that or who makes those decisions, but, you know, if I’m turning on tape, that’s one of the guys that I’m inviting.”

Whether Stockton gets invited to New York isn’t the point of this article. Smart and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will never say if they envisioned Stockton doing that. But the belief in the current Georgia starting quarterback has always been strong, as the win over Texas in the SEC championship game last year showed.

Saturday’s game against Charlotte won’t have all that much of an impact on Stockton’s Heisman hopes. Something will have gone terribly wrong if Stockton needs to be great in the fourth quarter of this game.

It does though give Georgia a chance to potentially get a longer look at what it has on the rest of its roster at the quarterback position.

Georgia first has to take care of business early in the game, something that isn’t lost on Smart. A year ago, Georgia messed around against UMass, giving up 21 points and 226 yards last season. That limited Stockton, then Georgia’s backup quarterback, to just 4 pass attempts in the 59-21 win. More reps likely would’ve helped Stockton when he faced Texas and Notre Dame.

With comfortable wins against Kentucky, Mississippi State and Texas, we’ve seen a bit more of Ryan Puglisi this season. He’s appeared in six games thus far, completing 9 of his 16 pass attempts on the season. He’s thrown one touchdown pass while being intercepted twice.

“Ryan’s doing a great job,” Smart said. “He gets a lot of work, as well as Ryan Montgomery. Both those guys, we get them extra reps during the week. They get reps on Mondays, do extra throwing. Both those guys continue to grow.”

It’s interesting that Smart was so quick to mention Montgomery in the same breath as Puglisi. Georgia signed Montgomery as a 4-star recruit in the 2025 recruiting cycle, holding off a late push from Florida to hang onto the quarterback.

Montgomery was limited this spring and summer as he recovered from a knee injury he sustained in high school. Since getting healthy, there’s been consistent behind-the-scenes buzz with what Montgomery has been able to do.

Stockton, Puglisi and Montgomery were not 5-star mega recruits coming out of high school. What they all had in common was that they wanted to come play for Georgia.

That’s something that Smart has really learned to prioritize in recent recruiting cycles, especially with the rise of the transfer portal in college football.

Stockton, Puglisi and Montgomery could’ve gone elsewhere. But it mattered to them that they come compete at Georgia.

“We want to go after people that can lead our team,” Smart said prior to Georgia’s game against Texas. “If they have a skill set that’s unique and that we think can make us better, then we want to enroll them within our program. They’re going to be the face of your organization, so you want to go after the right kind of person. They’re probably the sole person that makes the most decisions outside of the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator during a game. So you want to get the right guy for the mental makeup.”

Stockton has been an excellent face of the program this year, exemplifying what this Georgia team wants to be about on a weekly basis.

He isn’t the same physical specimen as Curtis, which is why Curtis is a 5-star prospect. But raw ability isn’t everything at the quarterback position.

“Well, I think the best player available every cycle does have core qualities or core characteristics,” Smart said. “You’re going to be a quarterback, you’ve got to be a leader. It’s 80, 90% between the ears, and I think people get enamored with just physical traits.”

Curtis is the only quarterback commitment in the class. When Raiola flipped in 2024, Georgia maintained the commitment of Puglisi throughout the ordeal. In all likelihood, if Georgia doesn’t land Curtis, it won’t take a quarterback in this recruiting cycle. It didn’t take a quarterback in the 2023 recruiting cycle when it prioritized Arch Manning.

But Georgia does hold a commitment from 2028 prospect Jayden Wade, who committed following the Texas game. He’s still a long way from his own signing day, but Wade is the No. 1-ranked quarterback in his class for the 2028 recruiting cycle.

Georgia clearly knows how to recruit the quarterback position, as the commitments of Wade and, currently, Curtis show. Bobo knows a thing or two about the position.

The Bulldogs can also point to the growth of Stockton this season as proof of being able to develop quarterbacks as well.

Stockton will have another year of eligibility after this season. Puglisi will have three more following the 2025 season while Montgomery will have four.

College football can change quickly, even more so in this day and age. We’ll see if Curtis sticks with his initial commitment or opts for an easier path to the playing field at Vanderbilt.

But whether Curtis indeed signs with Georgia or not, the present and future of the quarterback room is in as good of shape as anyone could hope for at this point in time.