ATHENS, Ga. - The last time Georgia played at Kentucky, Bulldogs backup quarterback Brice Ramsey went 5-of-5 passing for 80 yards and a touchdown during a 63-31 slaughtering of the Wildcats.
As the Bulldogs prepare to visit Lexington for the first time since that 2014 triumph, things are very different for the redshirt junior.
Once thought to be next in line as Georgia's starting quarterback - a role he briefly assumed when he played the entire second half of Georgia's 37-14 win over Louisville in the 2014 Belk Bowl after Hutson Mason suffered a concussion - Ramsey has since trended downward on the depth chart. The 6-foot-3, 213-pounder from Kingsland, Ga., was beaten out before the start of last season by graduate transfer Greyson Lambert, and five-star freshman Jacob Eason has relegated both Lambert and Ramsey to the sideline this year.
"It's honestly been really cool for me," Ramsey said. "Obviously it didn't work out like I wanted it to, but at the same time, I room with Jacob when we're on the road and for our home games, and it's just been really cool to watch him progress throughout the year, from the playbook to the snap count to reading coverages.
"I've been able to watch him grow a lot, and it's just been really interesting."
Ramsey completed 24 of 39 passes (61.5 percent) for 333 yards as Mason's backup in 2014 and completed 21 of 35 passes (60.0 percent) for 249 yards last season as Lambert's backup. He has appeared in 19 games during his career as a quarterback but none this season.
Lambert, who started 12 games a year ago and won 10 of those starts, opened this season as the starter against North Carolina but hasn't played since bailing the Bulldogs out in a 26-24 escape of Nicholls State on Sept. 10.
"They've both been great," Georgia first-year coach Kirby Smart said. "Greyson knows that he came in here last year and was able to play in front of some other guys, and he's been very good with Jacob. He'll continue to do that because that's the kind of person he is, and Brice is the same way."
Ramsey took over Georgia's punting duties after the midway mark of last season and was stellar in a 27-3 whipping of Kentucky in Sanford Stadium, averaging 47.7 yards on three attempts. He finished last season with a 41.9-yard average on 25 punts, but he lost that job in August to freshman Marshall Long.
When Long struggled during last Saturday's 24-10 loss to Florida in Jacksonville, Ramsey played for the first time this season but averaged 32.0 yards on three punts. Smart said that Long and Ramsey are competing for the punting role this week in practice.
"Obviously special teams is a huge emphasis for us, and it's something that we spend a lot of time on and work hard on every day," Ramsey said. "We've just got to keep going out there and working on it, and there's really nothing more that you can say."
So two years after his stellar performance in Lexington put him on track to be Georgia's quarterback of the future, Ramsey makes the return trip as the third-stringer. There was a time earlier this season when he wasn't even that due to a thumb injury that set him back for nearly a month, but Ramsey has stayed upbeat throughout it all.
"I'm good with any way I can contribute," he said. "If I'm playing, then I'm playing. If I'm helping Jacob diagnose a coverage - I'll do anything I can to contribute to this team.
"I just enjoy being on this team and everything about it."
Odds and ends
Nick Chubb told reporters following Wednesday's two-hour practice in full pads that he and fellow junior tailback Sony Michel visited with offensive coordinator Jim Chaney on Monday and asked him, "Are we going to run the ball more?" Sophomore defensive lineman DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle (ankle) and sophomore receiver Jayson Stanley (mild infection) did not practice again Wednesday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.