ATHENS, Georgia -- Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert's first SEC game got off to a disastrous start. After failing to complete a pass in the first half at Vanderbilt on Sept. 12, Lambert feared he was about to be benched.

Once the Bulldogs finally pulled away from the Commodores for a 31-14 victory, Lambert found offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer on the sideline and thanked him for leaving him on the field.

"Hey, Coach, I really appreciate you guys sticking by me," Lambert said.

"We can all get better," Schottenheimer told him. "We know that there are better days ahead."

It wasn't the first time Georgia's coaches had stood by the quarterback. Lambert's first practice at Georgia was worse.

"It seemed like I was missing every throw," Lambert said. "I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

Bulldogs coach Mark Richt wasn't impressed, either. He brought the Virginia transfer to Georgia to compete with two returning quarterbacks, but wasn't thrilled after watching him practice for the first time.

"He didn't look like the passer I saw on film," Richt said. "He struggled that day."

Lambert, a junior from Jesup, Georgia, recovered to become the surprising winner in a close competition with sophomore Brice Ramsey and junior Faton Bauta.

After those early struggles, no one would have known those better days that Schottenheimer predicted would be this good.

Editor's Picks Lambert finds a good fit in Georgia

Going into No. 8 Georgia's SEC showdown against No. 13 Alabama at Sanford Stadium on Saturday, Lambert is completing a whopping 76.5 percent of his passes for 733 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. After four games, he ranks third among FBS quarterbacks in total QBR (89.4) and pass efficiency (201).

In Georgia's 52-20 rout of South Carolina on Sept. 19, Lambert set an FBS record by completing 24 of 25 passes (96 percent) for 330 yards with three touchdowns. In fact, since starting 0-for-7 against Vanderbilt, he has completed 44 of 49 passes (89.7 percent) for 592 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. He also threw only one incompletion (9-for-10) in last week's 48-6 win over FCS member Southern.

It has been an unlikely start for Georgia's unlikely starter.

"He had a good day [against South Carolina] and he's a good player," Richt said. "What he's done in a short amount of time is impressive."

While Lambert is off to a hot start, Richt knows the Bulldogs' real tests have yet to begin. How Lambert performs against Alabama's defense, which has been the SEC standard for much of the past decade, might be a strong indication of how the rest of the season will go for Georgia.

"How's he going to do when the pocket squeezes?" Richt wondered aloud, during an interview in his office last week. "How's he going to do when he gets knocked in the mouth?"

Greyson Lambert threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns in Virginia's 28-20 loss to UCLA last season. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Richt knows one thing about Lambert: he's going to get back up when he gets knocked down. Lambert was knocked around plenty during his two seasons at Virginia. In 16 games with the Cavaliers, Lambert had a QBR rating of 53.2 and threw more interceptions (13) than touchdowns (11).

After losing the starting job to junior Matt Johns this past spring, Lambert decided to transfer to another school. Lambert said his decision to leave was about more than only football. He was generally unhappy at the school, which he believes affected his play on the field.

"I lost a little bit of love for it," Lambert said. "Just not feeling like myself anymore was the worst part. I didn't feel like myself and wasn't happy, and things weren't like I wanted them to be. I knew if I wanted to accomplish what I wanted, I needed to make a change."

Over the next couple of months, Lambert talked with his parents, Drexel and Melony Lambert, about leaving Virginia. He was scheduled to graduate in June, after completing a bachelor's degree in anthropology in just over three years, so he would be immediately eligible to compete at another FBS school under NCAA rules.

"My advice to him was he needed to certainly pray about it first and foremost and make no decision in haste," Drexel Lambert said. "I told him we would give it some time and if he still felt that way, we would help in whatever way we could."

After deciding to leave Virginia in June, Greyson Lambert asked his high school coach to gauge the interest of possible destination schools. Colorado State coach Mike Bobo, a former Georgia offensive coordinator who recruited Lambert out of Wayne County High School, was the first coach to call. Florida, Fresno State and Georgia also showed a lot of interest.

Richt wanted a fourth scholarship quarterback in case someone left after a heated quarterback competition during spring practice. (redshirt freshman Jacob Park did leave after Lambert announced he was transferring to Georgia).

"There's always a chance somebody decides to go after spring competition, and you don't want to be sitting there with only two quarterbacks," Richt said.

Richt watched three or four of Lambert's games at Virginia and was impressed by what he saw. Lambert had good moments, like when threw for 220 yards with three touchdowns and one interception on 20-for-35 passing in the Cavaliers' 34-20 loss at Florida State last season. There were also plenty of not-so-great moments, like when he threw two pick-sixes in the first half of a 28-20 loss to UCLA during Virginia's 5-7 campaign in 2014.

"He's tall and he has good fundamentals," Richt said. "I thought he was a pretty accurate short-to-intermediate passer. On the long balls, it was kind of hard to tell. I thought he could make the throws we were going to ask him to make. You saw him get knocked down some and get back up. You saw him make some mistakes. He looked human."

Buddy Geis, who spent more than 30 years coaching in the NFL and college football, believed Georgia was the perfect fit for Lambert. Geis worked with Lambert during his final two seasons in high school. Twice a week, Lambert made a four-hour, round-trip drive from Jesup to Jacksonville, Florida, to work with Geis on passing fundamentals.

Georgia's offense suits Greyson Lambert, who completed 24 of 25 passes for 330 yards with three touchdowns against South Carolina. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

"I think so many times you have players that just happen to choose the wrong school for them," Geis said. "When he made the move to Georgia, I had a great feeling that because of the great running game it would be a great fit for him. I always believed this kid had a ton of talent. He's a very quiet and nice kid. I always hoped the talent would blossom out of him, and it's OK that it took a couple of years for it to happen."

Geis believes Lambert's struggles at Virginia weren't about as much about him as what the Cavaliers were asking him to do. Geis believes Lambert is more equipped to work from under center, and having tailbacks like Georgia's Nick Chubb and Sony Michel lining up behind him doesn't hurt, either.

"I think sometimes as coaches, we have to take some blame too," Geis said. "They recruited a highly sought-after kid and the talent was there. Sometimes we have to say, 'What fits this kid?' If this is the pilot of my jet plane, I want to make sure he's really comfortable in what he wants to do -- not what I want to do. What they were doing at Virginia and how they were doing it, I didn't like it. That's my opinion."

During a summer in which transfer quarterbacks like Everett Golson (Notre Dame to Florida State), Vernon Adams. (Eastern Washington to Oregon) and Jake Rudock (Iowa to Michigan) made headlines, Lambert's transfer barely made a ripple nationally. Even many Bulldogs fans considered him nothing more than a safety net and didn't think he'd challenge Ramsey for the starting job.

The popular belief: How could a quarterback who couldn't win the job at Virginia win one at Georgia? The only thing Richt and Schottenheimer promised Lambert was an opportunity to compete for the job.

"We felt like he could function in our system," Richt said. "We promised him an opportunity to compete and were sincere about it. That's all we promised him. We thought he could be a legitimate contender for the job."

Even before Richt named him the starter, Lambert was happier with his situation at Georgia.

"It just felt right," Lambert said. "Everything I was looking for and wanted, this move solved all of that. It didn't take me starting and winning the first four games to feel like that. Even before the decision was made, I felt better and thought this was the right place for me."

By moving to Athens, Lambert lives closer to his girlfriend, Adeline Kenerly, who will be crowned Miss Georgia at halftime of Saturday's game against the Crimson Tide. They dated in high school and remained close friends while Lambert was at Virginia. She was first runner-up to former Miss Georgia Betty Cantrell, who surrendered the crown when she was named Miss America last month. Lambert also lives down the street from two of his best friends from high school.

"Sometimes change is good," Schottenheimer said. "Sometimes change is exciting. I think that's what he was looking for -- not a place to start over but a place to start anew."

Despite the glowing spotlight, Drexel Lambert said his son has taken his sudden success in stride.

"We always wanted him to be humble," Drexel Lambert said. "We always wanted him to have humility. We know how things can be easy come and easy go. Certainly, last year the season didn't go as we hoped. There are lessons in all of it. He wouldn't be where he is today if he hadn't gone to Virginia. There's nothing negative about Virginia in that regard. We still root for Virginia and want nothing but the best for them. Without those lessons and that experience, he wouldn't be at Georgia right now."