Gunner Stockton will be Georgia’s starting quarterback for the College Football Playoffs with the Bulldogs set to begin their postseason in their Sugar Bowl game against Notre Dame on New Year’s Day.
Stockton will step in permanently for Carson Beck, who suffered a season-ending injury. He has undergone surgery on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), with his focus now on the NFL Draft.
Stockton stepped in for Beck in Georgia’s win over Texas in the SEC Championship Game and led the team to the win, completing 12-of-16 passes while being praised by head coach Kirby Smart.
A Georgia native, Stockton grew up around 200 miles north of the Bulldogs home field of the Sanford Stadium – being a five-star high-school recruit and a top-10 quarterback in the nation when he joined in 2022.
Originally being the third-string quarterback behind Beck and Brock Vandagriff, Stockton was elevated to the backup role after the latter chose to transfer to Kentucky. A beloved teammate on the roster, Stockton continued to work under Beck, a two-time National Championship winner as a back-up himself, while being used sparingly in lieu of Beck when the Bulldogs were up by big scores.
But in the game with Texas amid Beck’s struggles, a big hit saw him need to come off the field with fans excited to see Stockton and guiding the team to an overtime win against the Longhorns.
In overtime, Georgia was trailing by three points. While on second-and-eight in order to keep the game alive, Stockton called his own number and raced directly up the middle of the field for an eight-yard gain. The play ended with Stockton taking a vicious hit that not only sent his helmet flying nearly a yard away but also left him in pain while wanting to get extra yards for his offense.
Beck was able to come back into the game to hand the ball off to Trevor Etienne, who scored the winning touchdown, before coaches had become aware that his injury would rule him out. A sophomore, Stockton will now look to impress to convince Georgia’s coaches that not only can he lead the team to a championship, that he’s quarterback of the future moving forward.
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