The guy Georgia could use the most this fall is ironically calling football games these days rather than playing in them.

It’s been 11 years since former quarterback D.J. Shockley led the Bulldogs to their last SEC Championship in 2005 and into the Sugar Bowl, but he’d be the alum who could best help this year’s team if he had any eligibility remaining.

Shockley’s ability to consistently read defenses and make plays with his arm and his feet would be a good addition to any football team, but especially this year’s UGA edition that enters the 2016 season with questions at quarterback.

Incumbent Greyson Lambert will be the likely starter when the Dawgs open the season in Atlanta against North Carolina on Sept. 3, but the gun-shy Virginia graduate transfer hasn’t exactly wowed the fan base or the new coaching staff with his ability to take over a game if needed. Lambert’s inability to make crucial downfield passing plays a year ago made the Dawgs very predictable after the season-ending knee injury to tailback Nick Chubb in October.

Freshman phenom and former five-star recruit Jacob Eason has Bulldogs faithful excited about the possibilities, but the reality is that playing quarterback in the SEC comes with a steep learning curve. As talented as Eason may be, he figures to make plenty of mistakes as he learns and adjusts to the faster college game.

The son of a high school coach, Shockley always boasted a great feel for the game and would be just the guy new coach Kirby Smart could use is a situation like the one he inherited after succeeding Mark Richt in December. Shockley patiently bided his time for three seasons behind the winningest player in program history — David Greene — for three years before making the most of his opportunity in his lone season as the team’s starter.

So why choose Shockley for such a hypothetical honor and not, say, the bigger arms of current NFLers Aaron Murray or Matthew Stafford, who was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 NFL Draft?

Simple — he did more with considerably less and accomplished something that neither Murray nor Stafford managed by bringing an SEC Championship to Athens. Championships are the unquestioned gold standard by which quarterbacks are judged.

Georgia didn’t have that one great running back to count on, much like it currently does with Chubb (assuming he’s healthy this season) and, to a little lesser extent, Sony Michel. (Because the 2016 Dawgs are so loaded in the backfield, there isn’t necessarily the need for the greatest Dawg of all, either, Herschel Walker.)

Herschel Walker

Credit: UGA Sports Communications

The Dawgs’ running game of 2005 was done by committee, with Thomas Brown, Danny Ware, Kregg Lumpkin and even Shockley combining to shoulder the load. Brown paced the team with 736 yards rushing with four touchdowns, but Shockley finished fourth with 322 yards and four scores of his own.

That was in addition to the 2,588 yards and 24 touchdowns he accounted for through the air after completing just 56 percent (173 of 310) of his passes with just five interceptions.

And it likewise spoke volumes about the team’s receiving corps that future NFL tight end Leonard Pope was that team’s top pass catcher with 39 receptions.

This Georgia team was nowhere near as talented as some of the later ones featuring Murray and Stafford, but Shockley made things go. His leadership was every bit as critical to his team’s success as the offense he produced.

So just imagine then all that Shockley might have accomplished had he had the luxury of having a few more stud offensive teammates the likes of Knowshown Moreno, A.J. Green and Todd Gurley.

Or the 2016 backfield of Chubb and Michel.

The sky might have been the limit.