Fromm or Murray? Ranking every Georgia starting quarterback in the 21st century
Georgia football. The program that’s perpetually knocking on the door but hasn’t quite made it all the way inside.
Often the man at the front of the pack, banging on the screen? The Bulldogs’ quarterback. We ranked all 12 QBs to attempt 100 or more passes for Georgia since 2000.
Might a new name appear high on this list if we did it again a year from now? JT Daniels and D’Wan Mathis might have something to say about it. Until then …
12. Joe Tereshinski III, 2003-06
A born-and-raised Athens boy with a proud family lineage, Tereshinski had the misfortune of injury and competing with the likes of D.J. Shockley and Matthew Stafford for the starting role. In 40 games, the current Charlotte assistant coach completed 57-of-106 passes for 794 yards, 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
11. Cory Phillips, 1999-2002
From walk-on to starter all the way down to third-stringer, Phillips had plenty of highs and lows during his time as a Dawg. The highs included throwing for 400 yards in 2 of his first 4 starts, including a comeback win over Kentucky his sophomore season.
10. Greyson Lambert, 2015-16
The transfer from Virginia completed 63% of his throws for over 2,000 yards but couldn’t quite beat out Jacob Eason for the full-time starting role.
9. Joe Cox, 2006-09
Cox spent most of his career backing up Matthew Stafford. When he got his shot in 2009, Cox produced mixed results as Georgia went 8-5. He threw for 2,584 yards and 24 TDs that season.
8. Hutson Mason, 2010-14
Mason sometimes doesn’t get enough love for his performance when thrust into action. His patience as Aaron Murray’s backup paid off as a senior when Mason led UGA to a 10-3 finish. He threw for 2,168 yards in 2014, with a sensational 21-to-4 TD/INT ratio.
7. Quincy Carter, 1998-2000
A man well-traveled, Carter ekes out eligibility for these rankings by virtue of playing his junior and final season in 2000. While that year wasn’t great, the former minor league baseball player went on to a lengthy NFL and indoor football career. He threw for 6,447 yards in his career with 35 TD passes.
6. D.J. Shockley, 2002-05
Regarded as coach Mark Richt’s first top recruit, Shockley to this day is one of the most electric players in program history. Was he erratic at times? Sure. But his ability to make big plays and keep drives alive with his feet shouldn’t go under-appreciated. Nor should his numbers: 3,555 yards, 34 TDs with just 9 INTs.
5. Jacob Eason, 2016-17
Things have turned out well for the 2020 4th-round NFL draft pick who transferred back home to Washington following his sophomore season. Before a knee injury and Jake Fromm’s rise bumped Eason down the depth chart, he threw for over 2,400 yards and 16 touchdowns as a decorated true freshman. Maybe more than anyone else, Eason helped recreate the buzz of better days ahead.
4. Matthew Stafford, 2006-08
Remember, this is a college ranking. There’s no comparison after these guys left Athens. It’s somewhat surprising to see where Stafford ranks in metrics like passer rating (8th) among Georgia quarterbacks since 2000. But his intangibles, Georgia’s success during his tenure and his 7,731 passing yards still cement him as one of the finest to ever do it for the Dawgs. His yards and 51 TDs rank 4th among QBs on this list.
3. David Greene, 2001-04
Greene finished his career as the winningest quarterback in FBS history and in 2002 led Georgia to its first SEC title since Herschel Walker left two decades earlier. Greene set Georgia’s career records for passing yards (11,528) and TD throws (72), though both records have since been broken.
2. Aaron Murray, 2010-13
How do you pick between a program’s all-time leading passer and one who led it to the National Championship Game? You look at the results. If you’re a Dawgs fan, what would you rather have? Murray’s 13,166 passing yards, 121 touchdowns and 158.6 passer rating or …
1. Jake Fromm, 2017-19
… a College Football Playoff run from the likes of Fromm? In all honesty, it’s really hard to choose between the two. Fromm finished with 8,224 yards and 78 TD passes. He would have put up bigger career numbers had he stayed in college one more year (though he wasn’t catching Murray, who still holds SEC records for career yards and TDs). But Murray might have looked even better had he been surrounded by as much talent as Fromm. It’s a fun debate, but those are hypotheticals. So we give Fromm the slightest of edges here.
I would have Murray and Greene ahead of Fromm.
I wouldn’t
From won an SEC title, Rose Bowl title, Sugar Bowl Title, appeared in 3 SEC title games, and played in the National Title game.
So out of all of that Fromm won an SEC title….
I’m sorry, placing Jacob Eason over DJ? DJ could arguable be over both him and Stafford, since if it wasn’t for an injury UGA could have been a one loss team. DJ took his team to the SEC championship, won it, and was SEC champion MVP. Eason got put out by Fromm, tucked tail, and fled to Washington where he had a sub-par career (even for Washington).
True. and that loss to aub was a tough pill to swallow. only the prayer at jordan hare was more gut-wrenching
No disrespect to eason, but no uga fan would rank shockley behind him.
You rank Jacob Eason ahead of DJ Shockley???
That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen on this website. Ever.
Think about it, considering all the stupid things that’s been written here, especially about Dan MuLLLen, and now you have the infamous honor of writing this single dumbest thing ever published here.
Wow.
Faton Bauta is a glaring omission.
He didn’t attempt 100 passes.
He attempted 38 and it was 38 too many lol
LOL…Gator MVP in his only start!
Eason above Shockley is a head scratcher. I wouldn’t have Fromm at the top of the list, but at least there is a debate with that one.
DJ over Eason all day. It’s 1a and 1b for me with Murray and Fromm. Fromm won a SEC title but Murray has the stats. I think Murray wins a title with the talent Fromm had and a healthy Gurley for all 3 years.
I was never that impressed with Fromm. He won a lot…but that was mostly because of the running game and defense.
it’s a good debate. their stats are actually very comparable.
for me, i just felt like fromm was more in control of the game than murray. murray had a tendency of making some poor decisions throughout a game, while i felt like fromm was never going to put uga in a bad situation. sure, there were times, especially last year where it was frustrating that he wasn’t more daring or able to put the team on his back….but he never put the team in a hole either.
murray played in a # of close games against uga’s biggest rivals; whereas, fromm’s teams won the majority of them comfortably.
Maybe Murray should be #1 overall but Jake Fromm shall be forever known as “The Gator Killer.”
1. MURRAY, 2. Fromm, 3. Shockley, 4. Greene, 5. Stafford
Matthew Stafford has had a long NFL career as a starter….the others ?
Fromm easily
Murray did all that with 250 lb lineman and Bobo’s 3 and long draw plays…and every offensive skill player (including Aaron himself) got injured his senior year just saying
Murray should definitely be at #1 and there’s no way Eason should be ahead of Shockley or even Hutson Mason…Hutson Mason had a great year unfortunately UGA had no defense that year..
It’s Murray for me and the reason is that he would have done more on those Fromm teams and with Kirby as his coach than Fromm did. Murray had better WRs, TEs, and play calling but Fromm had the much better O line, run game, and defense throughout his career. I think Fromm was more gifted as a QB than Murray but Murray was a better mix of gunslinging and game managing than Fromm was as a pure game manager.
What, no Justin Fields?????
Please attempt to do a ranking of the best 20 Georgia running backs since 1940. Frankie Sinkwich and Charli Trippi through D’Andre Swift. Where does Hershel Walker fall on this list. What about Terrell Davis, who didn’t exactly set the woods on fire in Athens, but who was better than he in the NFL during his four healthy years? This list could be 50-deep and still be A+ talents. I’d even include Andy Johnson as a runner, since he couldn’t throw the ball as well as I could, and I was a roly-poly offensive guard and sometimes defensive guard in the wide tackle 6.
Don’t forget Hines Ward. That’s who Terrell Davis was splitting carries with in 1994 (when he was healthy, which was Terrell’s biggest challenge in college). Hines was probably the most versatile player in UGA’s history. One year a RB, one year a QB, and two years a WR.
I know David Greene’s son lol
I still don’t get the point of these, I mean if you rate qbs this way just pick whichever QB happened to be playing when the team hit its most recent peak. Perhaps the distiction is most talented vs. Most productive? This site seems to take no adjustment to the idea that if a player got to be a part of a five star studded team that ones “stats” may have been different.
I’m very torn about Fromm vs. Murray. Fromm had a better defense, o-line, and running back room. Murray had a better playcaller and better pass catchers.
I think all the adversity that Murray faced in 2013 is what bumps him ahead for me. UGA had one of the youngest secondaries in school history that year and it sorely showed. Gurley injured in the LSU game. Malcolm Mitchell out for the season in the Clemson game. Keith Marshall, Justin Scott-Wesley, and Michael Bennett all went down in the Tennessee game.
But at the same time, the fact that Jake Fromm walked in as a FRESHMAN in the SEC and won 13 games, lost two rivalry games his entire career, and played flawlessly against Florida all 3 games. And not only that, he beat out two five star prospectsand handled abut as much vitriol as you can get in 2019. Finally, he had to do this with friggin’ Jim Chaney and James Coley calling plays, and the likes of Tyler Simmons and Matt Landers dropping the ball.
Murray’s accomplishments in spite of his outside supporting cast (like defense & running game) are what put him ahead of from by just a fraction for me.
If I had one game to play, I’d pick Murray.