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<\/p>\nRyan Montgomery\u2019s Georgia football story added its freshman chapter last fall. It unfolded as he hoped it would.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came here to be developed,\u201d he said at the Sugar Bowl. \u201cThat\u2019s why I came to Georgia. It is such a prestigious program. The culture here is just different. I love being here in the facility. There\u2019s really nowhere else I\u2019d rather be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the guys in the room. My teammates. I\u2019d do anything for them. It has just been an awesome opportunity. I\u2019ve just been excited to learn, continue and grow.\u201d <\/p>\n
Montgomery redshirted this year while serving as the No. 3 QB behind Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi. He played in the Charlotte game and completed his only pass attempt for 12 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis place is amazing,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cIt is such a great opportunity to be here and I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d <\/p>\n
Montgomery, who was the nation\u2019s No. 12 QB coming out of high school, didn\u2019t require a lot of NIL to induce him to Athens. He was the one who actually pitched UGA about being a Dawg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the story of how he basically recruited Georgia,\u201d Montgomery\u2019s high school coach, Stefan Adams, said. \u201cIt is a sign of strong faith, trusting your gut and letting things unfold the right way.\u201d <\/p>\n
When Montgomery chose Georgia, he wasn\u2019t worried about playing in his first or second year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a place where I wanted to be,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cI just wanted to come here. Practice against the best. Develop. It is going to take time. I\u2019ve seen steady improvements in my game since I\u2019ve been here. It\u2019s been a great opportunity thus far and I\u2019m excited to just continue to be here and learn and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Georgia freshman QB Ryan Montgomery greets his teammates before the Auburn game on Saturday, October 11, 2025, inside Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. (Jeff Sentell\/ DawgNation) (Jeff Sentell\/Dawgnation)<\/p>\n
Did you know the weekly DawgNation.com \u201cBefore the Hedges\u201d program is available as an Apple podcast? Click to check it out and download it.<\/a><\/p>\n The Ryan Montgomery backstory predicted this <\/p>\n When Montgomery committed, he said he\u2019d be calling UGA his home \u201cfor the next three to five years.\u201d That was a nod to the slow-cook cycle Georgia turns to with its starting quarterbacks. <\/p>\n Gunner Stockton arrived in 2022 and didn\u2019t start until the 2025 season. Carson Beck arrived in 2020 and didn\u2019t start until 2023. <\/p>\n \u201cYou look at the past couple quarterbacks,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cIt takes time for them to get on the field and I understood that when I committed here. I came here to be developed and I have no plans on leaving or anything like that.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI want to be here. I mean I just want to continue to grow and learn and obviously having the coaching staff that we have here, why would I leave? There\u2019s nowhere else for me to go. I can learn as much as I can from coach [Mike] Bobo and [offensive analyst] coach [Brandon] Streeter. Coach Smart. The guys in the quarterback room I mean, we\u2019re all really close. I know we\u2019re competing but we\u2019re all great friends and really close and we love to see each other succeed. It has been an awesome opportunity.\u201d <\/p>\n Stetson Bennett arrived in 2017, took a junior college detour and didn\u2019t start until 2020. He didn\u2019t become the clear \u201cQB1\u2033 until 2021. <\/p>\n While those stories unfolded, Georgia signed 5-star QB in Brock Vandagriff. He never started for the Dawgs. Georgia signed transfer JT Daniels, a former 5-star, but he eventually lost the job to Bennett. <\/p>\n Stockton was the QB signee in 2022.<\/p>\n The Bulldogs didn\u2019t sign a QB in 2023 in order to prime their room for an elite QB in 2024. The Bulldogs saw 5-star Dylan Raiola leave the class at the 11th-hour, but longtime commit Ryan Puglisi stayed the course. <\/p>\n The Bulldogs signed Montgomery in 2025 but saw another 5-star courtship crash out in 2026 when Jared Curtis flipped to Vanderbilt. That story, coupled with Raiola\u2019s flip, added to Georgia\u2019s hardships with 5-star QBs during Smart\u2019s tenure. <\/p>\n The stories of Jacob Eason and Justin Fields, both 5-star talents who lasted only one season, add to the chorus. That said, the program has still won more games and more national championships than anyone else in college football this decade. <\/p>\n If there\u2019s only one takeaway to extrapolate here, it would be that QBs who put roots down in Athens tend to thrive. Those who constantly need convincing and re-recruited to be Dawgs do not.<\/p>\n Montgomery, Puglisi and Stockton have that in common. <\/p>\n Georgia looked at Julian Lewis and Matt Zollars in the 2025 class before locking things down with Montgomery. Montgomery basically told them he wanted to be at Georgia above everywhere else and that wasn\u2019t changing. <\/p>\n But if he wasn\u2019t their guy, he would need to know so he could move on to Florida or South Carolina. Montgomery detailed those moments with DawgNation below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said at the Sugar Bowl that the staff is honest with its QB targets. They share the names of the other offers with the top prospects. Sometimes, there is a hierarchy they will take commitments from, and they share that with the top group.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes the first one to commit gets it,\u201d Bobo said. \u201cWith Ryan, we said there\u2019s a certain order we are going in, but we love you. Love everything about you and he came to a spring practice with his Dad and a family friend and basically said, \u2018I want to be here and around everything this program is about. I want to be pushed. I want every day to demand that I\u2019m at my best,\u2019 and I didn\u2019t say \u2018Okay, we are taking you\u2019 at that point, but that stuck with me about this kid that basically wanted this life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is hard. It is hard every day, but he wanted this life to come be a Georgia quarterback. He had it set in his mind that \u2018I can get to where I want to go\u2019 by coming to the University of Georgia and that right there impressed all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n He was limited last spring due to an August 2024 knee injury that cost him all but one series of his senior high school season. Montgomery has only gotten better. He\u2019s continued to impress with what he\u2019s shown UGA on the practice field so far.<\/p>\n Georgia signed an additional QB for Bobo\u2019s room in Bryson Beaver. Beaver was a 2026 recruit just like Curtis. He signed with Oregon but opted for the portal after starter Dante Moore returned for 2026 and Raiola also transferred to the Ducks. <\/p>\n That shouldn\u2019t be seen as a slight to anything Montgomery has done. It bears repeating that UGA had planned all along to take a 2026 QB with Curtis. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n