ATHENS — Spring football is in the books and the transfer portal has opened and shut, giving us a much better idea of how teams will look entering the 2025 season.

And while we’re still several months away from the start of the 2025 season, that hasn’t stopped several prominent media members from updating their top 25s for the upcoming season.

Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports is on the higher side when it comes to Georgia. He’s got the Bulldogs ranked as his No. 5 team in the country.

"Does anyone else feel hesitant to rank Georgia in the top five? I might be giving Kirby Smart too much of the benefit of the doubt," Marcello wrote. “Still, I’m a big believer in quarterback Gunner Stockton, whose numbers off the bench didn’t impress in the postseason, but his steadiness in the pocket and quick-fire passes still wowed while watching him in person at the CFP.”

Stockton made his first career start in the loss against Notre Dame. Based on everything we saw this spring, he seems poised to open the 2025 season as Georgia’s starting quarterback. He’s got a clean experience edge over backup Ryan Puglisi.

For 247Sports, Georgia came in at No. 6 in its post-spring rankings, which were voted on by a group of panelists.

Given all Georgia lost from an underwhelming 2024 team, there seems to be a healthy skepticism regarding the Bulldogs.

“After producing 13 NFL Draft picks, including several high-profile offensive linemen and pass rushers, this could be the season we see a slight dip in on-field success in Athens,” Brad Crawford of 247Sports wrote. “What would that look like? It’s paramount for Georgia’s offseason portal additions to be plug-and-play difference-makers, namely receivers Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas, along with a couple post-spring signings within the defensive front seven.” 

The most notable of those recent additions is outside linebacker Elo Modozie, who the Bulldogs pulled from Army. Modozie led the Black Knights in sacks last season with 6.5. Georgia saw Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker both land in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Joel Klatt of Fox Sports has similar concerns about Georgia, though he put them even lower in his post-spring rankings. He placed Georgia eighth in his rankings.

“I wanted to put Georgia higher just because it’s Georgia,” Klatt said. “Kirby Smart is becoming the standard bearer in the sport, with a quarterfinal loss in the CFP being viewed as a failure of a season, considering the success that program has had in recent years. The Bulldogs are set to start Gunner Stockton at quarterback. There are a lot of mixed opinions on Stockton and he could be a really quality player, but I haven’t seen that yet.”

Andy Staples of On3 has Georgia at No. 8 as well, but his skepticism for the Bulldogs lies more in the defensive front as opposed to the offensive side of the ball.

“The fear is that the supply of aliens on the defensive line is running short. Georgia remains one of the most talented rosters in the sport, but it feels as if the other contenders have caught the Bulldogs in terms of depth,”Staples said. “Still, the additions of receivers Noah Thomas (Texas A&M) and Zachariah Branch (USC) suggest the offense could be more dynamic than it was last year.”

It’s clear Georgia is still viewed as a playoff contender entering the 2025 season. All four rankings have Georgia as a top 10 team.

But this is a Georgia program and fan base that has grown accustomed to winning national championships, with the Bulldogs doing so in 2021 and 2022.

Georgia won the SEC a season ago, yet the end-of-season loss to Notre Dame clearly left a sour taste for many people. It seems that result will linger into the start of next season for Kirby Smart’s team.