ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart says Marshall’s roster stacked with transfers is a unique challenge for his No. 5 Bulldogs in Saturday’s opener.
Marshall has 74 new players and a new coach, Tony Gibson, and returns only three starters. Georgia returns seven starters on a young team expected to be led by junior quarterback Gunner Stockton.
While Georgia added some transfers, including at wide receiver, most of its new starters were backups on last year’s Southeastern Conference championship team. Marshall’s depth chart provides a much different challenge.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a roster that … it’s three-deep transfer, four-deep transfer, all these spots, a lot of transfers,” Smart said.
Stockton took over for injured Carson Beck in the second half of Georgia’s 22-19 overtime win over Texas in the SEC championship game, then started in the 23-10 Sugar Bowl playoff loss to Notre Dame.
Marshall finished 10-3 in 2024 for its first 10-win season since 2015 and won its first Sun Belt Conference championship. The Thundering Herd pulled out of an invitation to play in the Independence Bowl after coach Charles Huff left to coach at Southern Miss and a large number of players departed as transfers.
The Sun Belt fined Marshall $100,000 for dropping out of the bowl. Marshall restocked with transfers and says its 74 new players are the most in the FBS.
Georgia ranked only 102nd in the nation with 123.3 rushing yards per game last season. An emphasis this season is boosting the once-proud running game. Nate Frazier is the leading returning rusher after gaining 671 yards with eight touchdowns last season. The depth chart at running back also includes Illinois transfer Josh McCray and senior Cash Jones, expected to be used on third downs.
“We call ourselves RBU for a reason,” Jones said Monday. “We recruit the best and we hold ourselves to a high standard.”
Gibson says he has a plan for each of his top three quarterbacks and won’t hesitate to make a change if one is struggling.
The likely starter is senior Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, from Cartersville High School. Del Rio-Wilson started two games in three seasons at Syracuse before his transfer to Marshall. Junior Zion Turner followed offensive coordinator Rod Smith from Jacksonville State. Gibson said redshirt freshman JacQai Long is “the future of our program.”
“You may see all three of them … depending on how the game goes,” Gibson said Tuesday. “And we’re not going to let one guy sit in there and struggle all day. If he has not moved the ball, the next guy’s going to go in.”
Smart wanted Stockton to continue to compete with Ryan Puglisi in preseason practice for the starting job. That doesn’t mean Smart plans to play more than one quarterback on Saturday.
“That would be very presumptuous to say that,” Smart said.
In the only previous meeting between the teams, No. 3 Georgia escaped with a 13-3 win over Marshall on Sept. 18, 2004 at Sanford Stadium. Marshall beat No. 8 Notre Dame 26-21 on Sept. 10, 2022 and is 5-23 all-time against Top 25 teams.
Georgia is favored by 39.5 points by BetMGM Sportsbook. The line reflects Marshall’s dramatic roster turnover. In voting by the league’s coaches, Marshall was picked to finish sixth among seven teams in the Sun Belt’s East Division.
“Not a lot of people respect us,” Gibson said. “That’s fine. I mean, I don’t know how you can predict how a team is going to do with new guys. I wish I knew.”
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