College Football 2011: Mark Richt Faces Yet Another Quarterback Issue at Georgia

The year was 2001, and the University of Georgia had recently hired Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt to be its new head coach. For his first recruiting class, Coach Richt had centered in on one recruit named D.J. Shockley that he knew he desperately needed to be successful at UGA. Shockley was seen as the perfect quarterback for Coach Richt's system.

Shockley was a dual-threat quarterback that was rated the No. 1 quarterback in the nation by several media groups. He was reminiscent of former quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, who was coached by Richt while he was an offensive coordinator at FSU. Richt eventually landed Shockley, and the two were set for a long and successful career together.

However, when fall practices started, another quarterback began to stand out named David Greene. Greene was recruited by former UGA coach Jim Donnan and had been redshirted the previous season. Greene came out of fall practices as the leader of the team and never looked back.

Coach Richt ended up redshirting Shockley for the 2001 season and used him in planned quarterback rotations for the next three seasons. It was not that Shockley wasn't playing well when called upon—he was. The problem was that Greene was having a great career on his way to breaking several records, including the NCAA total wins record (42) and the SEC's all-time mark in career yards (11,270).

Shockley would eventually become the starter his senior year and flourish. He was named first team All-SEC and won the MVP of the SEC Championship Game, where the Bulldogs humiliated the LSU Tigers 34-14.

Bulldog fans will always be left wondering “what if.” If they had just been able to put another year of separation between the two, the sky would have been the limit. If it not had been for a sprained ankle in Shockley's senior season that caused him to miss the Florida game and still be banged up in the Auburn loss, they could had been competing for a national championship.

Fast-forward to 2011 and the Bulldogs could be looking at a similar situation, which is not a bad thing. They have the SEC's top returning quarterback in Aaron Murray, who passed for over 3,000 yards and scored 28 total touchdowns last season. Perhaps more impressive was his low interception total of eight despite being a freshman. In fact, he only threw four interceptions in SEC play.

The Bulldogs also have on campus a future star quarterback named Christian LeMay. As a junior Lemay led his team to an undefeated record and the North Carolina 4A state championship. During that season he totaled 3,296 yards with 44 touchdowns and just two interceptions. However, LeMay made a youthful mistake that caused him to miss his senior season.

As I have written about before, I served for several years as a scout for an independent scouting agency. I have seen almost every elite high school player over the course of the past four seasons on tape or in person. The unbelievable part is that two of the top four quarterbacks I have seen during that time both play at the University of Georgia in Christian LeMay and Aaron Murray.

Murray suffered a broken foot his senior year that caused him to miss several games before an early return where he led his team to the state championship. He finished as the No. 3-ranked quarterback in the nation by Rivals despite missing games. LeMay, on the other hand, missed his whole senior season and still finished as the No. 4-ranked quarterback in the nation by Rivals. In my opinion, both players would had been the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the nation out of high school had they not missed extensive time.

So here Bulldog fans sit again: two great quarterbacks with one season between them. However, this time, if Aaron Murray can stay healthy, they can put two years between them. It is a great problem to have, but it is one that must be handled with care. The last time they were in this situation they did win two SEC championships. However, handled correctly, those SEC championships can become national championships this time around.

We will never know what could have been with Greene and Shockley, but Bulldog fans are fortunate to see a similar script that could turn out even better.