Kirby Smart recalls conversation with Brock Vandagriff before leaving Georgia

In a different life, Brock Vandagriff would be the starting quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs . Instead, with other people at the position and the transfer portal , he is now that for the Kentucky Wildcats .

Kirby Smart spoke about the discussion that he had with Vandagriff about him leaving Athens during an appearance on ‘SportsCenter’ on Wednesday. He said it was a well-handled talk by both sides about him moving on following the return of Carson Beck .

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“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.”

“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.”

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Vandagriff spent three seasons with the Bulldogs after committing to them as a five-star, top-five quarterback prospect . However, he appeared in just 13 games with no starts as a reserve behind Stetson Bennett and then Beck .

Vandagriff did win a pair of national titles as part of their team. Still, as for him individually, he wanted to compete rather than staying on the sidelines for another year of his collegiate career. That led to his decision to transfer where he eventually ended up with UK.

That wasn’t an easy choice for Vandagriff, though. The native of Bogart, which is 20 minutes west of campus, wanted it to work out for himself there considering how much else went well while he was part of their program .

“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 .”

This now leads up to Vandagriff’s reunion with Smart and Georgia this weekend when the No. 1 Bulldogs come to Lexington this weekend. Even so, while opponents now, that doesn’t take anything away from what they did together while they were.

“That was just a mutual respect that we have for each other,” said Smart.

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