Was Gunner Stockton concussed? Kirby Smart answers during Georgia bye week.

ATHENS — After Saturday’s loss to Auburn, Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked if quarterback Gunner Stockton had been dealing with a concussion after sustaining a hit in the first quarter of a 27-24 loss.

Stockton would miss three plays as he was checked out on the sideline. He was cleared to return, but turned the ball over three times in the loss. It was the first multi-interception game of his career.

Smart was asked again Tuesday if his starting quarterback had displayed any concussion symptoms since the end of the game.

His answer was just as forceful and emphatic as it was Saturday.

“He has not had any concussion symptoms, so I can only go off what medical people tell me,” Smart said Tuesday. “I look at him in the eye and talking to him, there was no issue with any of that. Now, he did have a stinger in his shoulder. That can affect you. That’s hard.”

Stockton finished the game with 272 passing yards on 34 attempts. He also ran the ball a season-high nine times, totaling 26 yards on those carries.

The Georgia quarterback had been intercepted just twice all season before Saturday’s game. Interceptions in the second and third quarters doubled his total and left the Bulldogs trailing 24-14 at the start of the fourth quarter.

But Stockton led Georgia back, including tying the game on a 94-yard touchdown drive during which he accounted for all 94 of Georgia’s yards.

“Everybody’s making speculation and things, but the guy played really good against Alabama, and he could’ve really easily had two interceptions right? I mean, he had one, and the other was debatable right,” Smart said. “So he played pretty good (against Auburn) and had two interceptions. He still did some really good things in the game. I don’t think making it about a head injury when there’s no symptoms of that are realistic.”

Stockton had a chance to win the game for Georgia late, but he fumbled the ball after running into center Drew Bobo with just under a minute to go in the game.

Auburn scooped up the fumble and drove the short field to kick a 33-yard field goal as time expired.

Stockton missed three plays during the game, with Ryan Puglisi stepping in as his replacement.

All three plays Puglisi was on the field resulted in completions, including a 41-yard pass to Craig Dandridge.

“He goes out there every day and takes his reps. He takes much less than Gunner, but he was a part of the plan on all those plays,” Smart said. “He sat in the meeting on all of those plays. I don’t think when that happens you can just shut down and say, ‘OK, I’ve gotta change the plan.’ That was the plan in those situations.”