According to Dawgs 247, redshirt freshman quarterback Jacob Park intends to transfer from UGA before the start of the 2015 season. This comes on the heels of former UVA QB Greyson Lambert transferring to Georgia to play in his home state with two years of eligibility remaining.
Park came to Athens from Goose Creek, South Carolina as a dual-threat, four-star recruit and an Elite 11 Finalist. He was an early enrollee in 2014 and looked to compete for the vacant starting quarterback position now that Hutson Mason graduated. It became clear that Park was falling behind Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta on the QB depth chart during spring practice as he rarely got first-team reps. With Lambert’s arrival and top QB recruit in the country Jacob Eason enrolling in January, Park’s potential playing time in Athens has very much evaporated.
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If these reports are true, I believe that Park goes the junior college route so that he doesn’t have to sit out another year. This time next season he would transfer to a Power 5 program and get the playing time he certainly covets. I think an ACC school or West Virginia could be great fits for Park in 2016. I wish him the best wherever he ends up so long as it’s not Auburn.
So then there were three scholarship quarterbacks. Park would have been 4th on the UGA QB depth chart after Greyson Lambert’s arrival. The competition between Bauta, Lambert, and Ramsey is really starting to heat up now. Any of these three scholarship QB’s could start for the Dawgs in 2015, though most project Brice Ramsey to win the starting job as he has the best arm and highest ceiling of the three passers. Bauta has the best mobility, great leadership skills, and a relentless work ethic. Lambert has the most starting experience of the three coming over from the Virginia Cavaliers.
I think all three quarterbacks will get a fair shot at winning the starting job. This will be an interesting story to follow all summer long. Both HC Mark Richt and OC Brian Schottenheimer have explicitly stated that it’s a one-man job and that they won’t pick their guy before they absolutely have to. Dawg Nation may not know until August. Or the ULM game. Or the Vandy game. Or maybe it’s dragged out until the South Carolina game before it’s official. Expect this position battle between the UGA QB’s to dominate the Georgia beat for the coming months.