Gunner Stockton knows what he needs to do to unleash Georgia offense
ATHENS — The college football season is half over. To that point, Georgia knows what its identity is on the offensive side of the football.
For better in some cases and worse in others.
“It was just being efficient,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after the Auburn game. “That’s who we are. We’re a 5,7,8,4,5,7,8. That’s why we have 17-play drives. We have a coaching staff that puts together a good plan and go operate it. We’re just not a dynamic, dynamic offense right now in terms of vertical speed and throwing the ball downfield.”
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton threw for 217 yards on 37 pass attempts, producing a season-low 5.7 yards per attempt.
Stockton has just one interception on the season and has generally done a good job of not putting the ball in harm’s way. He just missed connecting on some deep passes to Colbie Young, Elyiss Williams and Noah Thomas in the win over Auburn.
He knows he’s going to have to connect on more vertical shots if the Georgia offense is to change. Georgia’s leading receiver against Auburn was Zachariah Branch, who caught nine passes for 57 yards.
“I think I just need to cut loose sometimes and just play ball at the end of the day,” Stockton said. “The Lord’s kind of blessed me with some (throws). Might have should have been some picks earlier in the season. But I’m excited, I go out there and play every day.”
Smart noted after the win over Auburn that the Bulldogs were using Branch as an extension of the run game. On Georgia’s final 16-play drive, Branch had receptions of 6, 9, 10 and 7 yards, all coming at or near the line of scrimmage.
The screens became necessary because of how Auburn was able to clog up the Georgia rushing offense. The Bulldogs had a season-worst 79 rushing yards against the Tigers, with Stockton’s 26 rushing yards being the individual high for the Bulldogs.
Injuries have caught up to the Georgia run game. Chauncey Bowens has a calf injury that limited him to just four carries on the night. Starting offensive tackles Monroe Freeling and Juan Gaston are both dealing with ankle injuries that prevented them from playing the entire game.
Auburn also has the most talented defensive front the Bulldogs have seen to date, something that should be taken into account. But the offensive line knows that with Georgia’s limitations, they have to play more like they did in the first five games of the season.
Georgia ran for 180 yards in each of those games.
“I mean, we weren’t running the ball as well as we wanted to in the first half, and in the second half we still didn’t run it as well as we wanted to, but we made some adjustments and we ran the ball better in the second half,” center Drew Bobo said. “We played four quarters of football, and we just need to figure out how we can start faster. Really, we came in here doing the same stuff and just correcting mistakes we made on the offensive line. We had moving parts, hadn’t really solidified. Just got everyone on the same page to where we can start playing better.”
Georgia has failed to score points on its opening drive in two of its four SEC games. A fast start against Ole Miss this Saturday would go a long way in helping the offense get a rhythm and allowing the Georgia offense to better dictate the terms of the game.
For as comfortable as Georgia is at grinding out drives, it knows it has to mix in more explosive plays. That’s something previous Georgia offenses have been stellar at, but last season and this year, not so much.
The Bulldogs ranked in the top 10 nationally in plays of 10 yards or more in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Last year, the Bulldogs dipped to 22nd in the metric.
Through six games, Georgia ranks 61st in that category.
“We try to look at because explosives are the biggest indicator of who wins games right there with turnovers and the middle eight. We want to be more explosive obviously,” Smart said. “I’m comfortable with who we are, although I want to be more explosive. But being a team that can grind it out and be physical in a day and age when a lot of people don’t want to be physical, it makes you different.”
Georgia’s offense has not been flashy this season. In many ways, it has taken on the personality of its quarterback. Stockton is a rugged player, one who doesn’t mind displaying his toughness.
That showed in Georgia’s game-clinching touchdown drive against Auburn. But a little sizzle earlier in the game may make for fewer tense moments moving forward.
“Yeah, I think our offense, we never quit. We’re resilient,” Stockton said. “We did what we had to do to win the ballgame. This team, we never quit. We’re hard to put away, and I think that’s the best part about our offense.”
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.
