Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
There was a bit of nostalgia kicking in around the SEC today, and not just because Stetson Bennett was back on the sidelines in Athens. Several SEC schools held Spring Games, and some of them were even – get this – on television.
Just like the good ol’ days. All the way back to 5 years ago. Still, it was an eventful day of spring games around the league. Here is a quick look around the league at what you may have missed.
Georgia is back on the title hunt
Georgia has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Kirby Smart is not one to be swayed out of what he thinks is the best way to run practice, a program, or a spring camp. Cancelling a spring game for the sake of shielding his team from other programs and giving away free game tape isn’t a concern when the identity of the Georgia program was built off of a “we are going to take away your strength, run the ball right at you, and suffocate you into submission” identity.
There weren’t a ton of highlights from the game, but the biggest things most fans wanted to see was the quarterback play and improvement on the line of scrimmage. Specifically, the defensive line didn’t look the same a season ago as it had in previous years under Kirby. That changed this year. By all means Georgia looks like a copy and paste version of some of their previous title contending teams. There were five stars everywhere and several former blue chip players ready to take on a much bigger role in the offense.
At the end of Saturday, the takeaway was more so that the defense, and secondary specifically, looked back to form. That’s after seeing three quarterbacks struggle to complete over 60 percent of their passes against the first and second team defense.
Here are a few posts from social media that tell the story a bit more.
Georgia’s halftime stats for passing:
Gunner Stockton: 6-11, 68 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT.
Ryan Puglisi: 3-6, 50 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT.
Ryan Montgomery: 6-9, 33 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT.
Hezekiah Millender: 2-5, 24 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT.— Olivia Sayer (@OliviaKSayer) April 18, 2026
The defensive line is massive, especially some of the new guys. Elijah Griffin looks to be in great shape. And Sone? pic.twitter.com/d8m7lbZPS5
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) April 18, 2026
UGA Spring game, April 18, 2026. pic.twitter.com/jhmONMrbcK
— McLuvin (@ChrisMcKeown263) April 18, 2026
Single storyline at Vanderbilt is still a good one
There’s really one storyline for Vanderbilt this offseason, and it’s the quarterback position. Who is replacing Diego Pavia, and how long until we all admit that it will be true freshman five star Jared Curtis. It’s very hard to see a world where the investment the school put into signing him away from Georgia results in him not starting from day one.
Here’s a look at some of his highlights from Saturday.
Jared Curtis’ creativity was really on display this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/cQXGEiTCel
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) April 18, 2026
Folks, Jared Curtis is legit pic.twitter.com/aOKQPkrkU1
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) April 18, 2026
Jared Curtis 😳 pic.twitter.com/rVyFDU5F3v
— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) April 18, 2026
Injury clouds Texas A&M’s game
Texas A&M is coming off their most successful regular season in program history. The Aggies finished 11-1 and made it to the College Football Playoff. Marcel Reed comes back and Mike Elko landed some big names out of the portal like Isaiah Horton from Alabama. Sadly the biggest news out of the Maroon and White game was injury related. Aggie linebacker Daymion Sanford was carted off the field with a lower left leg injury. His leg was put in an air cast almost immediately and no further diagnosis of the injury has been released.
Here is a look at Texas A&M LB Daymion Sanford getting carted off the field. Air splint was on his lower left leg. Was able to get helped onto the cart, but rode it off.
Sanford had a Maroon Team-high 4 tackles and one QB hurry.
Ended up calling halftime early after the… pic.twitter.com/5TP6GkQWHA
— 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕤 𝕃. 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟 (@Travis_L_Brown) April 18, 2026
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