Surprise SEC powerhouse interested in Texas transfer QB Maalik Murphy

It may not be the end of the world after all if five-star commit Dylan Raiola flips to Nebraska. He is a legacy in Lincoln. His father is a legend on the gridiron for the Huskers. His uncle is on Matt Rhule's staff as the offensive line coach. With Raiola visiting the Nebraska program over the weekend, Dawg Nation is going through the five stages of grief with regards to possibly losing their blue-chip recruit.

Truth be told, Georgia should still be in great shape, even if Raiola does flip. Carson Beck could be back for one more year before presumably being a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. His backup Gunner Stockton offers a lot of promise, as illustrated by former backup Brock Vandagriff hitting the portal and committing to Kentucky right away. There is also incoming four-star freshman Ryan Puglisi.

Buit should Raiola flip and Beck turn pro, what is poor Georgia to do? Well, they could land one of the best start-right-away quarterback candidates in the portal in former Texas backup Maalik Murphy. He may hail from California originally, but Murphy projects as a starter on any number of teams in the SEC next year. Murphy looked fantastic in his few starts filling in for Quinn Ewers this past season.

While Murphy has left the Longhorns for the portal right before the College Football Playoff is about to begin, albeit a tad reluctant, we do get it. His opportunities to start are outside of Austin with Ewers probably coming back for one more season and Arch Manning likely taking over in 2025. As far as Georgia is concerned, ESPN's Pete Thamel has at least connected Murphy to the SEC juggernaut.

Thamel said the following on Thursday's edition of College Football Live on ESPN 2 about Murphy.

“Preliminary list, it’s very early still, a couple of schools that have indicated interest are both USCs —Southern California and South Carolina—Baylor, Georgia, Oregon State, Syracuse and Duke. Those are basically what doubles as a list of quarterback-needy schools, and there’s going to be plenty of interest for Maalik Murphy.”

He also mentioned that if J.J. McCarthy decided to turn pro, that Michigan could be in play as well.

Let's discuss if Georgia has a real shot at landing a marquee quarterback like Murphy in the portal.

ESPN's Pete Thamel says Georgia is in the mix to land Maalik Murphy

If Beck stays and Raiola honors his commitment to Georgia, then Murphy is not coming to Athens. Even if Raiola were to stay loyal to Georgia, Murphy could conceivably make his way to Athens to compete for the starting job with presumably Stockton. Of the schools Thamel rattled off, Georgia and USC offer the most intrigue because they are the biggest programs with the highest upside.

The weird thing for me in seeing Thamel's initial seven-team list, plus Michigan if you want to make it eight, is the only other SEC team mentioned is South Carolina. The Gamecocks could be a great landing spot for him as Spencer Rattler's successor. From an unbiased perspective, I really like South Carolina as a fit for him if places like Georgia, Michigan and South California don't open up this winter.

Should Georgia enter spring practice with a quarterback room headlined by Murphy and Stockton, as well as newcomer in Puglisi, then I think that would still land pretty with with the rabid fanbase that is Dawg Nation. Simply put, Georgia cannot lose Raiola to Nebraska in a flip and Beck to the NFL Draft in a matter of weeks and do nothing. Stockton could be the guy, but it cannot be just him and Puglisi...

Of the places where Murphy could potentially transfer to, Georgia oddly makes sense in the situation.