"Inexcusable mistakes across the board": Insider Paul Finebaum sounds warning bells for top SEC QB ahead of 2025-26 season 

CFB insider Paul Finebaum sounded the warning bells for the Georgia Bulldogs ahead of the 2025 season. Kirby Smart's team won the SEC Championship last season and qualified for the 12-team playoffs. Their quest for a national championship ended after losing to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal game.

Following the 2024 season, the Bulldogs bid farewell to their quarterback, Carson Beck. He transferred to play for the Miami Hurricanes for his final collegiate year. Smart will now have to select a QB1 between Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi.

Stockton is predicted to be Georgia's starting quarterback for the upcoming season. However, Paul Finebaum is not convinced that the redshirt sophomore is the best option for Kirby Smart's team.

"To me, Gunner Stockton is a lot of hype right now," Finebaum said on his show as per Sports Illustrated. "We got the bills of goods about how much the team loved him and how hard they wanted to play for him. I saw that in the Sugar Bowl. I saw just inexcusable mistakes across the board, and he was part of some of them."

Gunner Stockton joined the Georgia Bulldogs back in 2022. After redshirting his freshman campaign, he served as the backup on the depth chart. In the past two seasons, the quarterback played in nine games and tallied a total of 588 yards and three touchdowns passing.

Another option that the Georgia Bulldogs have is former four-star recruit Ryan Puglisi. He arrived in Athens as a part of the recruiting class of 2024. However, unlike Stockton, Puglisi did not see any playing time on the field last season.

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Fran Brown opens up about Georgia Bulldogs head coach's insane work ethic

Fran Brown took over as the head coach of the Syracuse Orange last year. Before that, he spent two years as a part of Kirby Smart's defensive staff.

On Thursday, Fran Brown appeared on the 'Next Up with Adam Breneman' show. During this interview, he talked about Kirby Smart while praising his work ethic and discipline.

"Every day counts, like every day. Coach Smart treated every day like that was the most important day, and don't look forward to nothing else," Brown said. "I don't know a practice that he didn't take seriously."

"I mean, he had this crazy way, I just couldn't stop hearing my name with a microphone. Like, we on the microphone, like, 'Fran, what the f**k are they doing man?' That's all you heard all day... He coaches the coaches hard. He coaches the coaches and he's intense about it." (Timestamp- 22:45)

This work ethic helped Kirby Smart win two national championships and three SEC titles since taking over in 2016. Can he go on to add another trophy to his cabinet this upcoming season?