Gunner Stockton’s growth includes ‘different mindset’ since last SEC title game

ATHENS — When Gunner Stockton took over at halftime of the SEC championship game, Kirby Smart knew the young quarterback was a long way from being a finished product.

But Smart also knew Stockton was a winner, and he went out and proved just that by helping Georgia rally from a 6-3 halftime deficit to beat Texas, 22-19 in overtime, and hang another SEC championship banner.

Fast forward one year, and it’s Stockton still at the controls for the Bulldogs, having fought his way through a physical football season to lead Georgia to a fifth-straight championship game appearance.

Georgia plays Alabama at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the 2025 SEC title game.

“I think I’ve grown, just my confidence as the season’s gone on,” Stockton said, reflecting on Monday’s SEC championship game players’ teleconference about the difference a year makes.

“At the start of the season, I didn’t have that many banked reps, (so), as the season’s gone on, on the road at Tennessee, Auburn, just playing in those environments, boosting my confidence.”

There were reasons for doubt; Stockton failed to spark the offense in a 23-10 CFP Sugar Bowl quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame and showed inconsistencies in Georgia’s annual G-Day Game scrimmage.

Smart, however, never wavered in his support after seeing how the team responded in the SEC championship game win over Texas.

“The players believe in Gunner, they love Gunner, the juice that he brought, and the passion and energy,” Smart said. “It was like an added boost of energy, they were fired up … can’t say enough about his toughness, character, whatever you want to say, the guy’ a phenomenal leader.”

Smart’s confidence in Stockton has paid off, even as there have been some challenges along the way, with UGA needing to come from behind in six of its seven SEC wins.

“Last year, when Gunner played, the offense was more pared down, because the game plan was for Carson Beck,” former Georgia quarterback and Fox 5 Atlanta sports director D.J. Shockley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But now the offense revolves around him and his skill set, so he looks and feels more comfortable than he did last year, and then he showed his ability to throw the ball with some great passes against Ole Miss and Texas.”

Indeed, Stockton was 12-of-12 passing for 135 yards and three touchdowns in the second half of Georgia’s 43-35 win over Ole Miss.

Four weeks later, against Texas, Stockton outplayed preseason Heisman Trophy favorite Arch Manning, completing 24 of 29 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns and accounting for another touchdown on his six carries for 29 yards.

“Gunner’s pocket presence and progression reads have significantly improved in 2025,” David Cutcliffe, who coached Peyton Manning at Tennessee and Eli Manning at Ole Miss, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “His ability to know when and how to be an effective runner has grown with his playing time.”

Shockley said it’s been a combination of things clicking for Stockton in Mike Bobo’s offense: technique, experience, field vision and mindset.

“It’s all encompassing, you’ve got to have all that,” said Shockley, the MVP of Georgia’s 34-14 win over LSU in the 2005 SEC championship game. “He’s got to have the confidence in himself and teammates first, so he can say ‘I expect this guy to come out of his break at 12 yards, and I’m trusting him to do that’ and then let it rip.

“I think he knows he can make those throws …. And I think they want him to make those throws.”

Alabama, and other future opponents, are going to challenge Stockton to do just that, especially since go-to perimeter receiver Colbie Young was lost for the season with a leg fracture in the win over Ole Miss midway through the season.

Georgia has seen Texas A&M transfer Noah Thomas step up of late, catching 11 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns in the three games leading up to last Saturday’s 16-9 win over Georgia Tech.

Zachariah Branch, a transfer from USC who Stockton did not know at this time last year, has remained Georgia’s primary receiver, leading the team with 68 catches for 691 yards.

Stockton, like any other quarterback, is only as good as his receivers, and his connection with Branch has been prolific.