A lot of talk about Beck’s legacy recently so I figured I’d do this. I don’t think my personal list would look exactly like this, but I’ve talked about UGA football a lot over the years and consider myself very knowledgeable, and I think this is a fair assessment of how the fanbase as a whole rates Richt/Kirby era starting QBs. Obviously Beck’s story is still being written and things can change for him, but I think this is fair for now.
Tier GOAT - The Greatest
Bennett
Nothing needs to be said.
Tier 1 - Elite
Murray
Stafford
Remembered extremely fondly by almost all UGA fans, only real fun argument/debate is how they would do if they played on Kirby teams.
Tier 2 - Legends
Greene
Shockley
Great players who won the SEC, but we’re getting so old that we have a lot of fans who didn’t watch them or don’t remember. Important to educate the youth about how good they were.
Tier 3 - Argument Inducers
Beck
Fromm
Won a lot of games and started multiple seasons, but will always stir up debates between Georgia fans who don’t agree on exactly how good or not good they were. Stafford would most likely be here too if he didn’t have the NFL success he had. Beck gets out of this tier if he wins a championship at UGA or has a great NFL career like Stafford, but if he keeps throwing picks and the team doesn’t reach its goals, this is where his UGA legacy ends up.
Tier 4 - The Rest
Cox
Mason
Lambert
Tereshinski
Multi game starters who, fairly or not, the majority of fans didn’t and don’t think were all that good as players.
Transferred
Daniels
Fields
Eason
Mathis
Could have put them in my ranking and made a fun troll post, but this isn’t a troll post so they’re being excluded.
Tier GOAT - The Greatest
Bennett
Nothing needs to be said.
Tier 1 - Elite
Murray
Stafford
Remembered extremely fondly by almost all UGA fans, only real fun argument/debate is how they would do if they played on Kirby teams.
Tier 2 - Legends
Greene
Shockley
Great players who won the SEC, but we’re getting so old that we have a lot of fans who didn’t watch them or don’t remember. Important to educate the youth about how good they were.
Tier 3 - Argument Inducers
Beck
Fromm
Won a lot of games and started multiple seasons, but will always stir up debates between Georgia fans who don’t agree on exactly how good or not good they were. Stafford would most likely be here too if he didn’t have the NFL success he had. Beck gets out of this tier if he wins a championship at UGA or has a great NFL career like Stafford, but if he keeps throwing picks and the team doesn’t reach its goals, this is where his UGA legacy ends up.
Tier 4 - The Rest
Cox
Mason
Lambert
Tereshinski
Multi game starters who, fairly or not, the majority of fans didn’t and don’t think were all that good as players.
Transferred
Daniels
Fields
Eason
Mathis
Could have put them in my ranking and made a fun troll post, but this isn’t a troll post so they’re being excluded.
