Count College Football Hall of Famer and CBS Sports analyst Aaron Taylor among the fans of Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, who led the Bulldogs to a thrilling 44-41 overtime win against Tennessee on the road on Saturday. The SEC matchup was touted as Stockton’s first true test as Georgia QB this season.
“I’m going to give the game ball this week to Gunner Stockton,” Taylor said Tuesday.
Added the analyst: “Gunner, you represent everything that’s great about football and this sport. You kept your mouth shut and you delivered when it mattered most. You pushed all the chips in on yourself, you bet on yourself and you dropped a dime and rose to the moment when your best is needed.”
Gunner Stockton sat behind Carson Beck, Stetson Bennett
Stockton is in his first season as a full-time starter for the No. 5 Bulldogs (3-0). He enrolled at Georgia in 2022 and sat behind Stetson Bennett and Carson Beck. However, the 21-year-old redshirt junior got considerable playing time in Georgia’s postseason run last season.
Stockton helped lead the Bulldogs to an SEC Championship Game win over Texas after Beck suffered an injury and also started in Georgia’s College Football Playoff loss against Notre Dame.
The matchup against Tennessee was Stockton’s first career start against an SEC opponent. Against the Volunteers, he threw for for 304 yards, two touchdowns and completed 74% of his passes. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound QB displayed poise despite playing in a hostile environment in a rivalry the Bulldogs have won nine consecutive times.
Gunner Stockton threw key TD pass late against Tennessee
In a 4th-and-7 situation with Georgia trailing 38-30 late in the fourth quarter, Stockton threw a 28-yard TD pass to wideout London Humphreys to give the Bulldogs a chance to tie. Stockton then converted a two-point conversion pass to Zachariah Branch to tie the score at 38.
Stockton also contributed 38 yards rushing and a TD. Georgia HC Kirby Smart’s offense is predicated on the power game, and Stockton executed the game plan perfectly.
Taylor, who starred at Notre Dame from 1990-93, knows football, and he likes what he sees in the Georgia QB.
“It was the way he blocked out all of the noise,” Taylor said about Stockton. “Somehow he had humility but confidence.”
