ATHENS — Georgia football has plenty to prove this season after 13 players were drafted into the NFL and quarterback Carson Beck transferred to Miami.

The Bulldogs, through two fall camps, have mostly left coach Kirby Smart pleased with their efforts and progress, though not satisfied.

Smart rarely, if ever, has been completely satisfied with his team’s preparation, as he’s a believer there is always room for improvement.

Smart recently discussed the importance of projected starting quarterback Gunner Stockton improving his decision-making, and hinted that the fourth-year junior’s awareness can get better.

“Make good decisions, continue to develop, understanding situational football,” Smart said, asked what he expects to see from Stockton.

“We’ve made football so complicated. Some quarterbacks, I don’t think they know that down-and-distance. I don’t think they actually know, do I have another down after this play, or is this my last chance to get the first down? It’s just little things, being a quarterback, understanding the game, understanding what the defense is doing. He’s grown so much in regards to that.”

Smart recently relayed an instance in fall camp where Stockton took charge of a huddle by admitting he was at fault on a play.

There are indeed several responsibilities that fall on Stockton’s shoulders beyond finding open receivers and throwing the ball accurately.

“ID in protection, the ID in run game,” Smart said, referring to Stockton’s pre-snap reads.

“Playing quarterback is, it’s like being a computer. He’s got a million things going on at once. And he’s gotten better and better at handling those things, and that’s what I want to see him do when he gets the opportunity.”

Smart has said UGA will use the run game to help the quarterback, something it also did early in Beck’s tenure as the starting quarterback.

The Georgia opening game with Marshall will not be Stockton’s first start -- he was pressed into action in the College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl quarterfinal against Notre Dame.

But Stockton is still relatively inexperienced, and there’s a great deal required from the quarterback in Georgia’s Pro-Style offense.

Beck shared last fall just how much is going on between the earholes for a quarterback in Georgia’s offense before each play and how the helmet-in-radio communication helped the process.

“Sometimes when you’d get the play a little late there’s 15 seconds on the (play-) clock or 12 seconds, and against this defense I need to check, but we don’t have enough time to check it and need to run the (original) play,” Beck explained, “so being able to watch the defense lets me start thinking about things that maybe I couldn’t have in the past a little bit quicker.”

Smart revealed last year the Bulldogs may have been too conservative with their play-calling in their effort to “protect” Beck from mistakes.

“Early in the year last season, we probably did try to protect him too much,” Smart said in March of 2024, reflecting on Beck’s first season as a starter after he spent three years as a back-up — the same amount as Stockton spent before taking over this offseason.

“But then you see nothing ever really affects (Beck) and know you’ve just got to let the cat go play because we were either going to make it or not make it on his back.

“As the year went on, he got better and better, but we were probably a little too slow with him out of the gate.”

It’s not a wild leap to presume Smart and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo might approach Stockton’s development the same way.

The Bulldogs have the advantage this season of opening the season against two opponents — Marshall and FCS Austin Peay — that have notably less elite talent.

Based on Smart’s stated priority to run the football this season, that could mean a more conservative approach when it comes to play-calling.

Reflecting on Beck’s first career start in the 2023 season, against an overmatched FCS UT-Martin team, Georgia passed the ball 40 times and ran the ball 30 times.

Three quarterbacks played that day — including Stockton, then the No. 3 quarterback behind former back-up Brock Vandagriff.

Beck was 21-of-31 passing for 294 yards with a touchdown, Vandagriff was 2-of-3 passing for 77 yards and a touchdown and Stockton was 3-of-5 passing for 29 yards along with two carries for 18 yards.

Georgia played Ball State in the second game — a similar combination of a Power 6 FBS program and FCS program to open with, as this season — and Smart again played three quarterbacks.

Beck was 23-of-30 passing for 283 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception, Vandagriff was 0-for-2 passing and Stockton was 1-of-1 passing for 4 yards, taking a 10-yard sack.

Smart may elect to play three quarterbacks in UGA’s first two games this season, as well, with redshirt freshman Ryan Puglisi and freshman Ryan Montgomery in line for their first career game snaps.