5 things to know about new Georgia starting QB Gunner Stockton

4 days ago

For The Win

5 things to know about new Georgia starting QB Gunner Stockton

Here are some fun facts about new Georgia starting quarterback Gunner Stockton.

Georgia will be without quarterback Carson Beck for the 2024 College Football Playoff, now turning to backup quarterback Gunner Stockton as Beck recovers from elbow surgery.

The redshirt sophomore will be making his first start for the Bulldogs against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals matchup at the Sugar Bowl, which was postponed to Thursday. Quite a way for Stockton to get his feet wet as a college starter.

The Athens Banner-Herald recently profiled Stockton, detailing his journey from a start high school quarterback to one of the few signal-callers starting College Football Playoff games this winter.

Let’s look at five fun facts from Stockton’s story ahead of the biggest football game of his life so far.

Stockton hasn't started a game since high school

Online Athens

His father, Rob Stockton, played college football at Georgia Southern

Stephen Lew/Imagn Images

“Rob played safety at Georgia Southern from 1992-95, racking up 322 tackles and is in the school’s Hall of Fame,” Athens Banner-Herald‘s Marc Weiszer wrote about the elder Stockton. “Gunner wears the same No. 14 jersey number his father did.”

Atlanta Falcons tight end Charlie Woerner is one of Stockton's idols

Stephen R. Sylvanie/Imagn Images

Both are from Rabun County and played at Georgia in college.

“I got to be a ball boy on the sideline growing up and seeing Charlie,” Stockton told Online Athens in the spring. “He was always a guy I looked up to. Still do.”

Stockton originally committed to South Carolina

Jeff Blake/Imagn Images

“The nation’s No. 7 ranked quarterback in 2021 first committed to South Carolina, where Will Muschamp was head coach, Mike Bobo the offensive coordinator and Connor Shaw, brother of then Rabun County coach Jaybo Shaw, on staff,” Weiszer wrote in his profile on Stockton.

“After Muschamp was fired, Stockton decommitted Jan. 12, 2021 and committed to Georgia 16 days later.”

Stockton played youth football with Georgia safety Malaki Starks

Brett Davis/Imagn Images

“Gunner was part of a group of boys that started playing in a north Georgia youth football league with teams from nearby counties,” Weiszer wrote in the profile.

“They went 65-0 from ages 6 to 11 and even beat a team that included a kid from Jefferson named Malaki Starks, now Georgia’s star safety.”