Austin Kirksey plans to come home and be a Bulldog.
It means that freshman receiver Dominick Blaylock will be catching a familiar spiral during fall drills in 2020. It also means UGA will get some much-needed depth for the QB room, too.
Both situations are now in play with the news former Walton High QB plans to transfer back home to Georgia to be a preferred walk-on at UGA.
The former 3-star signed with Nevada in the 2019 class. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder was a two-time All-Region selection with the Raiders who threw 54 career touchdown passes, including a lot of those to Blaylock.
He was on full scholarship at Nevada and ranked as the nation’s No. 59 pro-style passer for the 2019 cycle. Depending on a pending decision by draft-eligible junior Jake Fromm, the Bulldogs could have as few as three scholarship quarterback quarterbacks on the 2020 roster for spring drills.
That figure does include redshirt freshman QB D’Wan Mathis, but his health status for next season and beyond isn’t a certainty after the surgery he had on his brain during his first year in Athens.
Kirksey will still be a redshirt freshman at Georgia next year as he did not see action for the Wolfpack this season. His NCAA clock started this year as an early signee so that will leave him with four more academic years to play four seasons in Athens.
He is expected to leave Nevada at the end of this semester.
Nevada coach Chris Norvell was quoted by Chris Murray of Nevada Sports Net about the move.
“He’s going to move back to Georgia to be close to his family,” Norvell said. “Really sad to see him go. What a great kid. He’s like a straight-A student, an awesome young man and very close to his family. A great family. We’re sad to see him go, but I certainly understand him wanting to be closer to his family.”
Kirksey threw for 4,864 yards at Walton from 2016-2018. He carried at 3.4 grade-point average during his high school days, too.
