Had a conversation recently with Anthony Dasher from over at UGASports.com and he shared a lot of information about Vandagriff that might be interesting to you.
Obviously Vandagriff was a star coming out of Prince Avenue, where he was probably known for his running ability just as much as his throwing. In that sense I suppose the hope could have been he might have developed into the kind of player Stetson Bennett turned out to be. His dad is obviously the HC at Prince Avenue and he's probably about to win another state championship so the family is football all the way through. Coming out of high school Dasher says he was a "big, physical 'raw bone' kid," perhaps someone like Levis in how he's physically put together.
Oklahoma offered him a scholarship and he committed to them when he was a sophomore in high school. Gotta remember, Lincoln Riley was taking his pick of quarterbacks and turning them into Heisman contenders and winners at the time.
At Georgia, Vandagriff was just always behind somebody. When you are one of these elite quarterbacks you're typically going to the elite football factories but they're bringing in another elite guy just about every year. You never know when your opportunity is going to come or what the competition dynamics in the QB room are going to look like. Of course, Bennett propelled himself above the other quarterbacks and won two national titles during his time with the Bulldogs. Understandable he wouldn't have started ahead of him while developing. Then when Carson Beck's time came he took the job and ran with it. Can't do much about that, Georgia was 12-1 with a 3-point loss to Alabama as their only blemish. Seems like right now the word is Beck is likely to return for another year.
If Vandagriff had stuck around Georgia there's just no telling when his time would come. There hasn't been anything to happen, apparently, that would rule Vandagriff out as a possible UGA QB. But let's assume Beck returns for another year. Vandagriff only has two more years left. One would be, probably, behind Beck.
UGA went out and got Gunner Stockton and here's where you will hear some different things. Some believe that Stockton may have had a better opportunity to eventually win the starting job and had shown a little more as a passer, but I've heard from others who believe that if Vandagriff had stayed around at Georgia he probably would have gone in the 2025 season (as a senior, final year) as the likely starter for UGA. Good chance he would have had that opportunity in '25 but there are variables looking a year ahead and he probably just feels like a "sure thing" starting somewhere else is better than the eligibility clock ticking with uncertainty at UGA. They also have Dylan Raiola coming in and he's really big-time, the kind of guy who could maybe be competing for the job in '25 as well as a RS-Frosh.
Don't think you can say it's "running from competition" when it's a two year guy who sees two years starting somewhere else versus maybe one year starting at UGA. Then again, I also heard at times that Vandagriff's decision might not have been 100% about Beck...although if Beck were to have left this year, that could have presented the chance to win the job and keep it for two years.
Dasher says Vandagriff has good speed and compared him physically to Max Duggan, the TCU quarterback who led the Horned Frogs to the national championship game against UGA before they were blown out last year.
They haven't seen much of Vandagriff in Athens aside from practice/spring games, and Dasher said, "He'll hurt you with the zone read run. UGA used that in the spring game over the past two years and he picked up some good yardage. He has made some good throws but he's also susceptible to interceptions from the little we've seen." Vandagriff made some solid throws in that spring game but there were some drops. I read some things this summer which indicated Vandagriff was turning some heads in a positive way, and if UGA had to go with someone other than Beck this year it probably would have been Vandagriff.
But Dasher also pointed out that Vandagriff has been going against Georgia's No. 1 defense for the past three seasons and that's probably the best preparation anybody could have aside from actually being a starting quarterback somewhere. He's not going to be intimidated by a situation or by taking the reins at another program.
Georgia Southern coached by Clay Helton is apparently a school that has coveted a chance to coach him but he's going to be SEC and Kentucky is in a great spot.
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