Inside what drives UGA QB commit Brock Vandagriff, from someone who knows him best
Brock Vandagriff has found creative ways to train while weight rooms, football fields and most public places are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The five-star quarterback and Georgia commit can’t afford to take days off.
The Georgia pledge’s father and head coach, Greg Vandagriff at Prince Avenue Christian School, leads a twice-per-week training schedule. They started by throwing the ball in their front yard, but it only allowed for about 20 yards of throwing space. Once gaining the use of a neighbor’s property, the Vandagriffs had a 50-yard field at their disposal.
As time progressed, everything remained abnormal and shifted to church-league softball fields. Greg knew a friend who had seven acres of land, so he lured Brock and a former wide receiver to the makeshift practice facility.
They eventually took a venture out to Marietta to meet with their trainer, Ron Veal. He’s the one who trained Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields when they played high school football up the I-75 corridor.
“He gets tired of hearing dad all of the time,” Greg said. “It was about getting somebody else to work with Brock, and Ron has produced some pretty good guys.”
Brock, a former Oklahoma commitment, readies to conclude his high school days and begin a new chapter at Georgia. He’s the No. 3 overall quarterback nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite ranking, and his father is ready to see that translate under UGA coach Kirby Smart inside Sanford Stadium.
Greg Vandagriff spoke on a range of topics, from his son’s style of play to what it’ll be like to have Brock a few miles away at the University of Georgia.
Note: This Q&A has been slightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: As parents, how exciting is it for Brock to commit to a program a few miles from home? That must make things more convenient.
A: You go from Oklahoma to this. My wife said that every game at Oklahoma is an away game, and now you have five. Three of those are at places like South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia Tech. You can get to eight or nine ball games a year without thinking twice about it.
Q: If you were to view Brock’s game with only your coach’s eyes, what makes him stand out as a premier quarterback prospect? How can that translate to college?
A: He’s super accurate. He works with kids who don’t run nearly as fast as those at a Division I school like Georgia. But when we’d go to these school’s camps, he wasn’t missing them. Regardless of the stage he goes onto, it’s never overwhelming for Brock. That comes from baseball, which started at the age of 10, and he’s played in championships in travel leagues. You’d see him on the mound, but he never sees big stages as a huge deal. It’s just part of it.
Q: How do you view Brock’s game? Is it more along the lines of a pro-style quarterback, or does he present a dual-threat option?
A: I don’t even think there’s a pro-style offense anymore. It’s about “is your quarterback athletic and can he make plays?” If you look at Jake Fromm, you see the pro-style label and get slapped with the question of whether he’s a game manager. If you get called pro-style, it’s like death to your name. I don’t think it’s relative anymore.
Everybody wants a quarterback to make plays with his feet. You have to be able to move in order to make throws on 30 or 40 percent of your plays. The question is, “Can he move in order to be successful in those situations?” I took this job (as Prince Avenue Christian School head coach) so that if there were any doubts about Brock, I could create an offense to silence them. He ran for 1,000 yards in his sophomore year, and there are hardly any quarterbacks who threw for 3,000 and rushed for 1,000. You can’t find them.
Last year, Brock was healthy in only three of eight games he played in, so it’s only fair to look at the first, second and last games. He threw for 525 and rushed for 80 against the best team in the state. He’s proven that he can make plays with his feet and do things that translate to success at Georgia.
Q: As you’ve watched Brock over the years, what makes him tick? What do you notice as his motivations?
A: His work ethic is what separates him. I molded that, too, when I taught a 7 a.m. class at Woodward Academy. I took Brock into the class and made him watch (former Georgia running back) Elijah Holyfield and (former Boston College linebacker) Max Richardson work out. These kids were killing themselves in the weight room, and Brock bought into that. It shows with his numbers — bench presses 315 pounds, power cleans 300 pounds and squats 425 pounds and runs a 4.6-second 40-yard dash. He proves himself on those levels.
Q: Brock was a former Oklahoma commit. Were there any family ties, lifelong allegiances to the Bulldogs or anything in the past that led him to commit to Georgia?
A: That’s the stigma where nobody can accuse anyone in our family in forcing Brock to go to Georgia. I grew up in Knoxville and had season tickets to Tennessee games. My wife went to Auburn. Nobody in our family was pulling for Georgia as far as growing-up ties. We love coach Smart, the staff and think they’re great guys. We’re Georgia Bulldogs now, pulling for great recruiting classes and winning a title. We’re the biggest Georgia fans there are.