The Georgia Bulldogs are set at quarterback next season as All-SEC signal-caller Aaron Murray will return to lead his team in their quest of winning another SEC East championship. But who will be retuning with him?
Backup quarterback Hutson Mason told DawgNation recently that he will wait until the season is done before making a decision. If Mason transfers, the backup duties would fall to Christian LeMay, who has also been rumored to be considering a transfer.
LeMay wants to put those rumors to rest.
“That is something that is definitely out of the question,” LeMay said. "I am just trying to get better and learn things. Yeah, I am staying.”
The freshman was surprised that the rumors were taken seriously by anyone.
“I don’t know where these things start,” LeMay said. “There are always things out there in social media. I am going to be here.”
LeMay redshirted this season, just as Murray did his first year on campus, and LeMay feels that the extra time will benefit him as well.
“My year has gone well,” LeMay said. “I have just been trying to learn the system, learn from Coach [Mike] Bobo. I am trying to learn everything I can from Aaron Murray and observing everything. I am trying to take it all in.”
LeMay, a North Carolina native, says he is much further along than when he first showed up on campus.
“I think I have progressed well,” he said. “It is a daily thing. Just when you think you have progressed there is always something new going into the play book so you can never get too big-headed.
“The easiest part for me is just playing. The hardest part is just learning the system. Every week we go in and tweak certain things for opposing defenses. As a freshman, trying to learn the system and then all the changes to our system -- it is just the little things that we have to change week in and week out.”
If Mason does decide to transfer, LeMay’s chances of playing next season will increase substantially. But LeMay says he would much rather Mason stay.
“Hutson is a great quarterback and I think anywhere else he would be a starter,” LeMay said. “Hutson is a hard worker as well, and he knows the offense inside and out. He is definitely another person I watch at practice and try to learn from and emulate.”
LeMay came in as part of the Dream Team recruiting class of 2011. While he hasn’t seen the field for the Bulldogs yet, some of his fellow freshmen have.
“My roommate Chris Conley has impressed me, going from where he was -- where nobody thought he would play -- to catching balls and becoming a big receiver,” LeMay said. “Malcolm [Mitchell] is impressive too. He was impressive in the summer. The first play I remember, he gave the guy covering him a jab move, I think it was [Bacarri] Rambo, he gave him a jab move inside because they were talking all practice. He started running backwards for about 20 yards and caught the ball. So that was the end of that talk -- the freshman talk -- with him.”