Suppose you’ve paid attention to college football over the past couple of years. In that case, you recognize Kirby Smart’s constructed Georgia as a legitimate perennial powerhouse, but the atmosphere going into 2025 is a little different. Let’s begin with the general picture. Smart, who already has two national championships on his résumé, is embracing the sky-high expectations that come with leading the Bulldogs. He’s not running from the pressure—quite the opposite; he says he loves it. Even following an 11-3 year that had Georgia take the SEC title after losing starting QB Carson Beck during the championship, Smart is not making excuses.

The Dawgs remain stacked with talent—nobody recruits like Kirby Smart—but they’ll be younger at some critical positions this season. The 2025 team has 38 new faces on it, including 28 from the No. 2 class nationally and 10 transfers. Smart’s task? Get those “newbies” ready to contribute immediately. There has also been some buzz from opposing coaches forecasting a “decline” for Georgia this season, but the Bulldogs have made a practice of disappointing pessimists. Here’s where it all comes together in terms of the NFL Draft. Georgia’s recent string of success has translated into a consistent pipeline to the pros, and that continued this season.

Georgia legend and ESPN analyst Aaron Murray talked about the Bulldogs’ mass offseason exodus on the J.D. PicKell show. “You trace back to the NFL draft, and George had 14 players drafted to the NFL, second most to Ohio State,” says Aaron. This year’s Georgia exodus is real, and it’s a hot topic among old Dawgs.

In addition to other Georgia greats such as David Greene and D.J. Shockley, who referred to last season as Kirby Smart’s best coaching performance ever, considering all the adversity and turnover on the roster, Murray isn’t oblivious to what lies ahead. “If Carson would have gone to the NFL draft, that would have been 15, so they would have had just as many guys drafted into the NFL as what Ohio State had, who won the national championship,” he said.

Just look at the experience they lost to the pros this year. Defensive end Mykel Williams, LB Jalon Walker, Safety Malaki Starks, OG Tate Ratledge, OG Dylan Fairchild, Center Jared Wilson, WR Arian Smith, and RB Trevor Etienne, among others. You’re losing experience in almost every position. Anyone who comes in to replace these players would require time and patience. SEC doesn’t offer you time and patience. A few losses, and your playoff hopes are done for good.

That’s a huge talent drain, and Murray acknowledges it’s a bit concerning, even for a program that recruits on a ‘top-three-every-year’ basis. The Dawgs have a load of four- and five-star children, but a lot of them are youngsters who haven’t seen the field very much. That’s where concern rears: experience is key, particularly in the SEC meat grinder.

Aaron Murray’s real talk on Gunner Stockton

Murray’s opinion of Gunner Stockton is genuinely kind of refreshing—he’s not boosting the kid up because he’s a Dawg. Murray absolutely understands the worry fans have in this transfer portal age. He highlights how simple it would be to just go pick up an established QB from the portal—somebody who’s got some starting experience under his belt and loads of tape to study and that ‘instant confidence’ perk. But that’s not what Georgia’s doing this time.

Kirby Smart is betting on Stockton, a guy who’s been in the system, is familiar with the playbook, and has the locker room’s trust. Murray insists you must ‘trust the process a little bit,’ which proves easier said than done when you’re playing in the SEC and the expectations always are championship-or-bust. Murray also makes a rather intriguing comparison between Stockton and Ryan Puglisi, the other top dog in the QB room. He admits that maybe Puglisi has the more powerful arm and an equal amount of athleticism, but emphasizes that knowing the offense and executing it at SEC speed is an entirely different beast. It’s not always about natural ability; it’s about being in a position to read defenses, check in the right places, and get your offensive line in the right position—things that come with experience and reps.

“I think that the biggest difference is that while Puglisi could be and deemed to be maybe the more talented of the two quarterbacks. Better arm strength, you know, very equal in the in the mobility category, it’s just not there with the speed of understanding the offense, it’s not the sense of like, why can’t you dumb down the offense if he’s the better quarterback.”

Nevertheless, Murray’s not giving Stockton the keys to the kingdom yet. He has no qualms saying there’s no promise Stockton’s going to take Georgia to another SEC title immediately. The kid’s got the locker room in his corner, but he’s still got to show the world that he can get it done when the lights are brightest.