Gunner Stockton meets the moment in Georgia victory in Knoxville
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — To hear Gunner Stockton describe his fourth-quarter touchdown pass makes it sound so easy.
“Yeah, fourth down. We needed to convert,” Stockton said after game. “And then we ended up scoring. And London (Humphreys) ran a great route and made the catch. And it was just an awesome moment.”
Facing fourth-and-six with 2:39 remaining, Stockton fired a shot to the end zone for Humphreys. Georgia trailed 38-30 and needed a touchdown and two-point conversion just to tie the game.
The throw dropped right into Humphreys’ hands for a touchdown.
Stockton followed it up by firing a pass to a wide-open receiver Zachariah Branch for the two-point conversion. It would be the final pass Stockton threw on the night, tying the game at 38.
For a quarterback who faced plenty of questions entering the week, a single throw ended just about all of them.
“It’s incredible. He blocks out all the outside noise, just works on his craft,” kicker Peyton Woodring said. “He’s always in late, up early in the facility. You see that. He’s just a fantastic leader. This couldn’t have happened to anybody better. I feel like it’s awesome.”
Stockton finished the game completing 24 of his 31 pass attempts for 304 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for a touchdown too, helping Georgia beat Tennessee 44-41.
It was a signature moment and win for Stockton as Georgia’s quarterback.
“He’s so tough. I mean, he takes shot after shot,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “You know, I thought he did a good job with the run game — I’m talking about his run game. He saved us on a couple of third downs. In the red area he made a couple runs. That plus-one run game can be big for us if he can protect himself. I thought he grew up tonight."
This was by far Stockton’s best showing in a career that has seen him already play Texas, Notre Dame and now Tennessee in his first five games. All of those games were played away from Sanford Stadium.
He still has room to grow. He has not yet mastered the scramble drill, often preferring to pick up yards with his legs rather than keeping his eyes downfield.
He was stripped once again on a long-developing third down, akin to what happened to him against Notre Dame to end last season. Georgia’s defense got a stop and limited Tennessee to a field goal to make 38-30 with 6:40 remaining.
Teammates have raved about his leadership, beaming when they get the chance to speak about their quarterback.
“He’s that calm, collected dude out on the field, but he’s a silent dawg,” linebacker Raylen Wilson said. “He really don’t do too much talking. He’s just going to go out and execute.”
The touchdown pass to Humphreys showed Stockton’s potential, but Smart was more impressed with the QB lasered a pass for 31 yards on Georgia’s first drive of the fourth quarter.
“He’s growing up,” Smart said. “He’s getting back on the table. He did now. There was a lot of information. Check this, do this. They had a great plan, I felt like. A lot of those checks and stuff. This crowd, he did a really good job. First drive, guys, that was like clockwork.”
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
