NEW ORLEANS — In the corner of a third-floor Sheraton Hotel ballroom on Tuesday stood the unofficial riser for the Sugar Bowl quarterbacks. Trinidad Chambliss made the walk first, met the media for 45 minutes, then walked off. A few minutes later, Gunner Stockton made the same walk, endured questions for the same 45 minutes, then made the same walk out of the ballroom.

Their career paths to being on that riser, however, could not be more different.

This is Stockton’s fourth year on the Georgia football team. He’s had the same offensive system every year, the same coordinator the past three years — Mike Bobo, whose father was Stockton’s personal coach for years. Familiarity, in more than one sense.

Then there’s Chambliss, who numbers his association with Ole Miss in months: He just got there in June.

”That’s crazy,” Stockton said. “He’s definitely doing some great things, for sure.”

Indeed he is: Chambliss, who this time last year was playing Valdosta (Ga.) State in the Division II national championship game, made the improbable jump to Ole Miss starting quarterback, and on Thursday faces a slightly bigger Georgia football program in Thursday’s CFP quarterfinal.

“Sometimes I have to sit down and be like, dang, you’re in the SEC competing with the best college athletes in all of the United States,” Chambliss said. “It’s really cool to see.”

The contrast is a reminder that in the transfer portal era there’s still multiple ways to do it: Signing and developing out of high school, as Georgia did with Stockton. Or going the transfer route, as not only Ole Miss did with Chambliss, but five of the eight remaining CFP teams did.

But the difference is not one of philosophy. Georgia has tried to get transfer quarterbacks: Fernando Mendoza visited last year before choosing Indiana. It had Jayden Maiva committed for one day in early 2024, before he flipped to Southern California. Georgia’s process of starting the likes of Stetson Bennett (two years as a backup, one year at a junior college), Carson Beck (three years as a backup) and now Stockton (nearly three years as a backup) is not for a lack of trying in the portal.

“It’s just happened this way, since I’ve been here,” Bobo said. “It’s not like hey, this guy’s going to play because he’s been in our program. The best player’s going to play. We’re always trying to upgrade our roster at every position, and quarterback is no different.”

And the best quarterback doesn’t necessarily have to be the one with the most familiarity with the system, as Chambliss proved this year, adding to what was already a considerable pile of evidence. But why not, at a position that would seem to require the most knowledge of the playbook? How can schools continue to plug and play so well at quarterback?

Bobo and Charlie Weis Jr., who’s finishing up as Ole Miss offensive coordinator before leaving for the same job at LSU, pointed to several new-ish factors:

• NCAA rules for the offseason loosened, allowing more walk-throughs, more meetings, more interaction between players and coaches between spring practice and fall camp.