Honestly, looking at the uga football depth chart 2025 is like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube while Kirby Smart keeps swapping the stickers. We’ve spent years watching the "next man up" philosophy work perfectly in Athens, but 2025 felt different. It was the year the bridge finally had to be crossed. No more Carson Beck. No more Malaki Starks. No more Brock Bowers safety nets.
It was a full-blown reset.
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Basically, if you weren't paying attention to the portal moves and the freshman enrollees by March, you were already behind. The 2025 season wasn't just about winning; it was about whether the developmental machine Kirby built could survive the most massive roster turnover of his tenure.
The Gunner Stockton Era and the QB Room
For three years, Gunner Stockton was the guy everyone talked about but nobody really saw outside of garbage time. Then the 2024 postseason happened. When Beck went down, Stockton had to step into the fire against Texas in the SEC Championship and then lead the charge against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
He didn't just play; he survived. By the time spring 2025 rolled around, the uga football depth chart 2025 had him cemented at QB1. But it wasn't a coronation. Ryan Puglisi, the redshirt freshman with a "howitzer" for an arm, was breathing down his neck the whole time. Kirby, being Kirby, never officially named a starter until the Marshall week.
- QB1: Gunner Stockton (RS Jr.)
- QB2: Ryan Puglisi (RS Fr.)
- The Newbies: Ryan Montgomery and Hezekiah Millender (True Freshmen)
The dynamic changed because Stockton isn't Beck. He's scrappier. He runs more. Mike Bobo had to tweak the entire geometry of the offense to fit a guy who is 6-foot-1 and likes to tuck it and run when the pocket collapses.
Rebuilding the Wall: The Offensive Line
If there’s one thing that keeps Georgia fans up at night, it’s the offensive line. Losing Ratledge and Fairchild to the NFL (both went to the Lions, ironically) meant 2025 was the year of the "Big Humans" youth movement.
Monroe Freeling finally took over the Left Tackle spot. He’s got the length of a skyscraper but had to put on about 15 pounds of "SEC muscle" over the winter. On the other side, Earnest Greene III stayed put at Right Tackle, providing the only real veteran stability.
The interior was a mess of "OR" designations on the depth chart for months. Micah Morris grabbed the Left Guard spot because, frankly, he’s a mauler. But the Right Guard position was a battle between Juan Gaston—a massive 6-foot-7 freshman who looks like he was carved out of granite—and Michael Uini.
- LT: Monroe Freeling
- LG: Micah Morris
- C: Drew Bobo (Yes, Mike’s son, and he’s legit)
- RG: Juan Gaston OR Michael Uini
- RT: Earnest Greene III
The Skill Position Explosion
You’ve gotta love the portal. Georgia snagged Zachariah Branch from USC and Noah Thomas from Texas A&M. Suddenly, the wide receiver room didn't look so "pedestrian" anymore.
Branch is a human joystick. Putting him in the slot (Y Receiver) while Dillon Bell and London Humphreys rotate at the Z made this the fastest receiving corps Kirby has ever had.
Then there's the running back room. Trevor Etienne left for the NFL, leaving the keys to Nate Frazier. Frazier is a "one-cut-and-gone" type of back. Behind him, you had the "bruisers"—Josh McCray (the Illinois transfer) and Roderick Robinson. It was a "lightning and thunder" setup that actually worked surprisingly well until the injuries started piling up in November.
Replacing the Irreplaceable: The Defense
Defensively, the uga football depth chart 2025 had a Malaki Starks-sized hole at safety. You don't just "replace" an All-American.
KJ Bolden stepped up as the leader of the secondary. He’s only a sophomore, but he plays like a fifth-year senior. Beside him, they rotated between Adrian Maddox and Zion Branch (Zachariah’s brother). The secondary was the most "volatile" unit—at one point, five different guys were getting meaningful snaps at corner, including the phenom Ellis Robinson IV.
The Defensive Front Seven
- DE: Gabe Harris Jr. (A total freak of nature off the edge)
- NT: Jordan Hall (The anchor)
- DT: Christen Miller
- ILB: CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson (The "Twin Towers" of the mid-level)
The pass rush was the big question. Mykel Williams left a void at the "Jack" position. Kirby ended up using a committee approach with Quintavius Johnson and Elo Modozie. It wasn't as dominant as the 2021 "No-Fly Zone" front, but it was disruptive enough to keep Ole Miss and Alabama honest.
What Most People Get Wrong About the 2025 Roster
Everyone assumed that because Georgia lost 13 players to the 2025 NFL Draft, they would take a massive step back. They didn't. They just changed how they won.
The 2025 team wasn't a defensive juggernaut that sat on leads. They were an explosive, high-variance team that relied on Gunner Stockton making plays out of structure and Zachariah Branch taking punts to the house.
The depth was thinner, though. Kirby mentioned this a dozen times in pressers. "The drop-off is greater," he said. When a starter went down in 2025, the backup wasn't always a future first-rounder. Sometimes it was just a kid trying to remember his assignment. That’s the reality of the portal era.
Real-World Impact: The Final Verdict
By the time the Sugar Bowl loss to Ole Miss rolled around in January 2026, the 2025 depth chart had already been raided by the next portal cycle. Joenel Aguero headed to Ole Miss. Daniel Harris left.
But looking back, the 2025 season proved the "Georgia Standard" is real. You can lose your star QB, your best DB, and your Hall-of-Fame TE, and still be in the hunt for a Natty in December.
Actionable Insights for the 2026 Transition:
- Watch the Secondary: With Joenel Aguero and Daniel Harris out, the 2026 secondary will rely heavily on Khalil Barnes (the Clemson transfer) and Gentry Williams (from Oklahoma).
- The RB Logjam: Dante Dowdell is coming in from Kentucky. Expect him to take the "big back" carries that Josh McCray vacated.
- Quarterback Competition: Don't assume Stockton is safe for 2026. With the portal open, Kirby is always looking for an upgrade, and Ryan Puglisi has another year of development under his belt.
The uga football depth chart 2025 was a bridge. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't always pretty, but it kept the program at the top of the mountain while the rest of the SEC was trying to climb up.