Kirby Smart shoots straight on Gunner Stockton fall camp

Kirby Smart doesn’t hide from his team’s challenges, and he has said from the start of spring drills that his team needed to find ways to be more explosive on offense.

The Georgia receiving corps, having lost five of its top six pass catchers from a season ago, has received much of the attention.

Reports from scrimmages indicate the passing game had its issues, especially when trying to connect on longer plays, and at times with dropped passes.

“Drops happen, they’re going to happen,” Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion recently told the AJC. “You just can’t dwell on them. You’ve got to move on, move to the next play, worry about making the next play. You can’t focus on what’s in the past. Just move forward, be where your feet are and go from there.”

Georgia led the nation in dropped passes two seasons ago — something Smart and his staff will want to ensure doesn’t happen again.

Smart had also openly said quarterback Gunner Stockton needs to improve his skills from last season to this season, and on Tuesday he addressed that topic.

“Gunner’s been fine, he’s been good,” Smart said when asked about the starting quarterback’s progress. “He had some plays that he wished he had back from the last scrimmage (Saturday). He had some good plays in the first (scrimmage) and some bad ones in the first (scrimmage).”

Smart called out Stockton more than once for bad decisions and missed throws during an early fall practice that was open for subscribers to the school’s “Glory Glory” NIL initiative.

The Georgia defense, featuring ball-hawking All-American defensive backs Ellis Robinson IV and KJ Bolden, had something to do with Stockton’s struggles that day and likely through fall camp.

The fact Stockton is breaking in new and less-experienced receivers and tight ends like Canion and sophomore Talyn Taylor, who was injured much of last season, also makes a difference.

Stockton, himself, has shown improvement with his footwork, pocket presence and progressing through reads more quickly.

That’s something NFL scouts will want to see if Stockton is to be selected in the upcoming draft, as one ESPN analyst recently rated him as a seventh-round “tier” quarterback.

According to one former NFL scout who spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there are questions entering this season if Stockton gets drafted at all.

“Is he draftable? He needs to process better and work through the progressions,” the former NFL scout said. “He manages the game really well, but we’ll have to see if he can drive the ball and throw the deep comeback. He’s a talented kid and a great leader, but we have to see if the traits equate to the NFL.”

Smart indicated that some of those questions have been answered in the offseason — something NFL scouts can judge for themselves when they visit Georgia practices.

“He’s had a good camp,” Smart said. “He’s in a much better place this year than he was last year, in my opinion, just from experience.”

Even better, Stockton and Georgia have two outmatched opponents to start the season in Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. Stockton will get plenty of game reps in those first two matchups, the better to get his timing down and confidence high for the SEC portion of the schedule.

Things worked out well for Stockton last season, as his clutch performances propelled the Bulldogs to their second consecutive SEC championship game victory.

Stockton finished seventh in last year’s Heisman Trophy voting, and he’s ninth among the preseason Heisman Trophy favorites at +2200, per the FanDuel Sportsbook.