Recalling Brock Vandagriff’s Choice to Move to Kentucky, Kirby Smart
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart calls back to the moment Brock Vandagriff told him he was going to transfer.
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart calls back to the moment Brock Vandagriff told him he was going to transfer.
The Georgia vs Kentucky matchup this weekend has an interesting crossover. Kentucky has two former Bulldogs that were on Georgia’s roster just last year that are now playing for the Wildcats – quarterback Brock Vandagriff and linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson. On an appearance on Sportscenter on Wednesday, head coach Kirby Smart called back to the moment Vandagriff told him he was going to hit the portal.
“It was very light-hearted. He understood. He had already told us, if Carson was coming back, that he, you know, probably was going to go play somewhere else,” said Smart. “He was very professional about it.”
Vandagriff waited around on Georgia’s roster much longer than most would have in his situation. He was part of the 2021 recruiting class, sat behind Stetson Bennett for two years and then another season when Carson Beck was named the starter. When Beck announced his return, it then forced Vandagriff’s hand to enter the portal and find playing time elsewhere with two years of eligibility.
“I didn’t want it to be difficult for him,” Smart said. “When he sat in front of me in my office, I told I loved him. I told him he had done a tremendous job. He told me he appreciated everything that we had done for him and how much better he was because he had been here but that he needed to go try to go play.”
Vandagriff, a graduate from the University of Georgia, left on good terms with plenty of love for the Georgia Bulldogs. Vandagriff played high school football right down the road from campus at Prince Avenue and while he never made a start, Smart credits him to helping make the program better than when he arrived.
“He was very emotional because he loves Georgia,” said Smart. “He graduated from Georgia. He won two national championships at Georgia. He made Georgia better. He left it better than he found it.”
So while Vandagriff and his former teammates will be playing on opposites side of the ball and in two different uniforms on Saturday, there appears to be no love lost between the two parties, and it should make for an interesting matchup this weekend.
