The first fall scrimmage in Athens had the hum of Kirby Smart‘s operation. Tight execution, defensive dominance, and just enough offensive flashes to make you wonder if Georgia’s passing game is ready to take flight. It was part grit and part growing pains. And in the middle of it all is a roster battle that’s heating up. And while everyone’s eyes were on Gunner Stockton and the QB room, a Dawg insider dropped a nugget that could define the secondary. 

When Rusty Mansell joined Jake Rowe in a new episode on Georgia Bulldogs Football on DawgsHQ on August 10, he let out a huge update on Georgia’s safety position. “Adrian Maddox, the UAB transfer at safety, is really starting to stack practices,” he said. “And I’m telling you this other safety job opposite of KJ Bolden, he might have something to say in this well lo and behold.” This isn’t a charity case. Adrian Maddox ran with the ones on Saturday, and that tells you plenty. 

Adrian Maddox is a Georgia native. A 6’1, 200-pound safety out of Heritage High school in Conyers. He’s got one more year to prove he belongs in the big show. At UAB, he was a starter who racked up 44 tackles and a pick six. But this is still a battle for the best. The senior is staring down JaCorey Thomas, a talented Bulldog who’s never locked down a starting role, and a handful of other transfers. Kirby Smart brought in three fresh faces at safety this offseason for a reason: Zion Branch, Jaden Harris, and Maddox. And Maddox is already proving he’s not here to watch. “He’s not going down without a swing. And I think he’s showing some fighting,” Mansell added. “I think the light is starting to click on. So I’m very interested what we hear this time next Sunday.” He’s flashing the instincts that can get you on the field in Sanford Stadium.

Of course, all this just piles more pressure on KJ Bolden, the sophomore sensation who already has Freshman All-SEC honors in his back pocket. Now, without Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson, he’s the grizzled vet in a room full of new names. “I feel sorry for him sometimes because we’re looking around and I’m looking for a guy that’s been here for a long time,” position coach Travaris Robinson admitted. And when a Georgia DB coach says that, it’s not about pity, it’s about the weight of expectations. But roster battles aside, Kirby Smart’s biggest headline this week wasn’t about Maddox or Bolden.

Kirby Smart’s warning to Gunner Stockton 

2025 is also about the guy holding the keys to Georgia’s offense, or trying to. Gunner Stockton got a crystal-clear warning from the boss. No “catastrophic mistakes.” As Ryan Kerkey pointed out of UGA Football on Dawg Post podcast, “Limiting mistakes, limiting big time mistakes. Kirby said catastrophic mistakes… But look, with Gunner, he hasn’t been in a lot of different situations outside of practice, right? They do as much as they can to simulate. Kirby talked about how this spring, this fall, this offseason in general has been really good for simulating situations and decision-making processes.”

It’s a loaded phrase, especially when you remember the ghosts of Georgia quarterbacks from the past. Carson Beck’s 12 interceptions in 2024 still stings. Gunner Stockton, for all his promise, has never truly been in the fire. Just five games in 2024, four in 2023, and not a single season where he had to dig out of a third-and-long with the season on the line. Kirby Smart’s message is that practice reps don’t count when you’re staring down an SEC defense in the fourth quarter. 

Gunner Stockton’s got the legs to extend plays, the system knowledge to run the offense, and the trust of his teammates but he’s still not the cemented QB1. Ryan Puglisi’s arm talent is too good to ignore, and his highlight-reel touchdown to Noah Thomas in Saturday’s scrimmage proved he’s not just a bench-warmer. But as of today, the role of starting quarterback is Stockton’s to lose.