ATHENS — Gunner Stockton finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting this season.
Yet offensive coordinator Mike Bobo thinks the Georgia quarterback is only scratching the surface of what he can do.
“He’s kinda come out of his shell a little bit, and you’re able to see more true of what Gunner Stockton is and who he is as a quarterback,” Bobo said. “And he knows he’s not even close to reaching his ceiling. He can continue to improve. And I know he’s got a bad taste in his mouth about our first opportunity in the playoffs last year. I know it was his first start, but he wants to go out, like our whole football team, and play well in this game and give ourselves a chance to win a ball game.”
Stockton was not the only topic Bobo spoke about with reporters on Sunday ahead of Georgia’s game against Ole Miss.
Below is Bobo’s full transcript. Georgia takes on Ole Miss at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Georgia OC Mike Bobo explains why Gunner Stockton ‘isn’t even close to his ceiling’
On Gunner Stockton’s performance in first Ole Miss game...
“I don’t know, I can’t recall at so many games what game that was of the season. But I know he’s had a few games up to that point. And I think each game he gained confidence. And we had a mantra that game that we were gonna go out there and play free. And I thought he went out there and played free. That was one of the first games that he started to make some plays, extending with his legs, whether it was running for first downs, or he had a couple of key scrambles where he was able to find conversions. And then that happened early in the game. And when you get that confidence, it allows you to continue to play free. But that was the mantra, that game, go out and play free. And he’s got a bunch of good teammates around him to make plays for him. But that game, I think as that game went on, gave him confidence. And it’s carried over throughout the rest of the year. And another thing about, he does it, whether he has a good play or bad play, Gunner’s kind of the same. He doesn’t get rattled or doesn’t get too high. He does get emotional sometimes, but he’s able to come back down to earth. And I think that’s a good trait in a quarterback.”
On satisfaction of being Broyles finalist in face of criticism...
“No, I mean, it’s satisfying to coach a group of kids that we had this year that have come in and gotten better every week, have worked extremely hard. We carry a lot of offense, and we put a lot on them each week. And they come out the right way and prepare. And then work with a great group of guys on the offensive staff. It’s not just me, I’m the one calling the plays. But I don’t go lock myself in a room and come up with the plays that we’re gonna run. It’s a collaborative effort from our staff, and they’ve done an outstanding job. There’s guys that have been coordinators in that room, and James Coley and Brandon Streeter. There’s guys that have been in the NFL, and Coach John Lilly and Phil Rauscher. There’s guys I’ve worked with before, Coach Searels and Coach Hartley. And there’s guys that have sat in the chair being a coordinator, and nobody has an ego in there. Everybody’s got a lot of suggestions, but at the end of the day, we decide what we’re gonna run, and they do a great job coaching it. The players do a great job executing it. So that part’s satisfying, that I work with a great group of guys and have unbelievable kids to coach. And we’ve had an outstanding season to this point, but we gotta finish. And that’s our mindset right now.”
On expectations for Gunner Stockton coming into the season...
“I want him to be Gunner Stockton. And I think in that sense, that was the main message, that Gunner, I want you to be Gunner. And you’ve heard me say this about numerous quarterbacks that I’ve coached here, whether when I was here before, or I’m back now, they’ve gotta be who they are. And you can lead through that way if you’re who you are, and the guys are gonna respect that. So in that manner, yes. The thing I love about Gunner, he’s constantly improved each week. And again, to Jordan’s question, I think that has to do with confidence. I think that has to do with the guys around him are playing really well, and guys are making plays for him. But every rep that you get, obviously have a lot of bank reps being in this system. But every rep you get in game experience is gonna help prepare, whether it’s good or bad, and you’re gonna learn from that. And he has learned from the bad plays that he’s had in games and the good ones. I’m extremely proud of him. I can’t say enough about how hard he works and how he prepares. And the thing about him, he wants to win for Georgia. He’s not trying to win for Gunner Stockton. I think a lot of the improvement you’ve seen throughout the year, he was so, I don’t wanna do anything to cost Georgia, that he maybe did not play as free as he needed to in some situations. And he’s kinda come out of his shell a little bit, and you’re able to see more true of what Gunner Stockton is and who he is as a quarterback. And he knows he’s not even close to reaching his ceiling. He can continue to improve. And I know he’s got a bad taste in his mouth about our first opportunity in the playoffs last year. I know it was his first start, but he wants to go out, like our whole football team, and play well in this game and give ourselves a chance to win a ball game.”
On if a national championship is required to complete the career arc at Georgia...“No, I don’t listen to the noise. I’m not sitting here and saying, hey, you don’t hear noise, or you don’t pay attention to it. I mean, you hear it, but you don’t listen to it. You focus on what’s important. And what’s important is those coaches and those players and me doing my job here at the University of Georgia for our head coach, Kirby Smart. As a competitor, you wanna win every game you play. And if there’s a championship to be won, you wanna win it. And we accomplished one of our goals this year, and that’s winning the SEC Championship. Now we got a chance in the playoffs to accomplish another goal. But as a competitor, you wanna win, and that’s why we do this thing, we compete. But the other thing why you do this, and why I got into coaching, is the effect that you can have on young men and help them see them grow. That’s what I saw my whole life growing up, being a coach’s son, whether my dad coached a team and they won the state championship, or he didn’t. That didn’t change who he was and how he coached and how he loved on those kids. So that’s why I do what I do. Not for somebody to say, hey, you did a great job, you’re a great coach. I wanna get that letter from that young man that I coached 2-3 years from now saying, thank you, that’s why I coach.”
On what was appealing about Gunner Stockton as a recruit...
“Well, one, his skill set, his ability to, his toughness when you watched him play, even in high school. His ability to will his team to win or make plays. He was a playmaker. He was a guy that didn’t need the perfect pocket. He didn’t need AJ Green or certain guys out there. He was gonna make plays with whoever he had. And you saw his team in high school rally around him. And he took his team to another level at the quarterback position. So as you’re evaluating a quarterback, you see a guy that makes plays. He’s got a strong arm, but he makes plays with his legs. And the way the game’s evolved, I was looking for guys when I came back and I was recruiting at South Carolina. I was looking for guys that could extend plays. And watching his tape, that’s what intrigued me. Now, everybody’s, I’ve known Gunner for a long time, but I haven’t known him as well as my family and my dad when they lived in Rabun. I didn’t have that attachment until I started recruiting him. But you hear stories about this kid as he grows up, his toughness and how tough he is. And then you see that on the tape. And then when you get to know him, he’s extremely tough individual. Mentally and physically, and that’s what you want in that position, a guy that’s tough. And you also want a guy that’s humble, that goes to work every day. Doesn’t need to be told that he’s the greatest. He doesn’t flinch if you get on him. He doesn’t, if you say something positive or praise him, he doesn’t get too high. He just goes to work. And that’s the thing I’ve been proud of. I’m fortunate. It’s a joy for me to coach him and all those quarterbacks in our room. We got a bunch of good guys who come to work every day. But Gunner is the guy that sets the standard in that room, along with Coach Streeter. And those guys have done a great job of making it about this Georgia football team and not about themselves.”
On importance of Colbie Young and Ethan Barbour...
“Well, you got two big bodies. I know Ethan’s only a freshman, but he was playing for us early in the season and had the terrible injury and the setback. But he’s worked extremely hard to get back and have a chance to possibly play. We’re still day to day, but he’s a guy that can play both positions, Y and F. He’s a guy that can be an inline guy and be able to flex out. So his versatility, number one. He’s a very, very smart football player. Even when he was out, he was non-weight bearing and he was always around. He’s always paying attention. And the same thing for Colbie is, another heartbreaking injury for him. We thought he was done for the year, but he’s worked his way back. But he was a big body that was making plays for us on the perimeter. Not just 50-50 balls. He was catching the ball, explosive after the catch. He was an extremely physical blocker. I talked about him, I think, in the preseason, maybe the spring, last time I talked to y’all about how he was leading that room. And he continued to do that when he was out. So if we could get those two guys back, and hopefully for this game, it’s just two more weapons that are at our offense’s disposal and Gunner’s disposal.”
On the offense showing it can win scoring matches...
“Anytime you can come back in a game and be able to score points and have to continue to do that, I think that gives you confidence.Obviously on the road, playing in Knoxville was big for our football team and big for our offense, because we had to score in that game., and was down late in the game, and having to score and get a two-point conversion gave our guys confidence. We have confident kids. They’re confident because they were really good in high school.”We like to humble you around here and let you know that it’s not just about you. You gotta go to work and play as a team, and I think that hardens them. It calluses them, the way coach runs his program. It makes you tough, not just physically, but mentally, so you can handle those moments, and Coach Smart’s teams do not flinch in adversity, when they face adversity. We know it’s gonna come in every game, whether the first game of the season, playing Marshall, or when we had Ole Miss, and we’re down in the fourth quarter., however many points it was. We don’t look at the scoreboard. We say put the ball down, and we gotta go out to make the next play. But to make those plays in competitive situations, when ball games are tight, gives you confidence going forward. And we’ve done it more than the Ole Miss game, but that was one in that game that I think it’s carried on, and guys have continued to make plays in competitive moments, and there’s no more competitive moment than in a fourth quarter when you’re down.“So, proud of those kids, but they put themselves in a position to make those plays by how they practice every week, how the pressure that’s applied on them here in practice by our head coach allows these games to be easier. It might not seem easier, in the moment, you’re playing in a big arena, you’re down, but what these kids face every day and what they go through, I think hardens them, I like to say calloused for those situations. And a lot of times, they’ve come out on top because of their training.”
On emphasizing the run game and watching it take hold this season...
“Well, I think I said it last time I talked, that was gonna be the number one emphasis for us offensively. That was the number one emphasis for us defensively. So it’s been a point of emphasis since we got back after last year and started talking about moving forward, what our identity was gonna be. And it was not about words, it was about going to work and making sure we had the right plan offensively to put our guys in position to be able to run the ball. So when you say, ‘what does that mean?’ Well, we went back to square one. We went back and talked through every run, our alignment, our steps, our aiming points, we took nothing for granted.”And we had every coach back. We had two additions in Coach (John) Lilly and Coach Phil (Rauscher), but we took nothing for granted as a staff and said, ‘hey, we’re gonna run the ball better.’ How are you gonna run the ball better? You lost three, four guys to the NFL.“We’re gonna run the ball better because we’re gonna make it a priority for this football team. And that was not just talked about when we got back. It was talked about every single day up until before the first football game, and it’s talked about since. We talk about it, and then we go out there and we live it in how we practice, and they embrace that. If you weren’t gonna be hard, you weren’t gonna have a chance to get on the field on offense. Noot just our offensive line, our tight ends, man, early in the year, they weren’t getting a lot of catches. But they were playing extremely unselfish and blocking their tails off. Not just in the core, but on the perimeter. Our receivers, we were struggling to get the passing game going early, but our receivers were blocking their tails off. And then we’d have our Friday night meetings before the game and go around, and I’m talking. I’m asking kids, ‘what do we need to do to win?’ And receivers are talking about, I need to block on the perimeter. I need to strain, and those guys bought in.“I can’t say enough about those players and their coaches getting their kids to buy in to our vision of what we wanted to do on offense, and totally unselfish. I think that goes to who we talked about earlier, our leader. Gunner Stockton, he’s unselfish. Then as the offense continued to pick up and we gained more confidence and we became able to do more than just run the ball and stretch the ball downfield and install more volume in offense. I think it’s gave us more confidence and we’ve become a little bit harder to stop. And then also, the plus one in the running game.“It’s four yards here, it’s five yards here, it’s three yards here. Gunner, instead of throwing the ball away, it’s second and seven, or second and six. It goes from second and seven to third and one. Big play in Ole Miss game is second and seven. He scrambles out to our bench and he gets it to third and one. It might have been right before Josh (McCray) broke the tackle and we got to, or maybe it was third and third down and we got to fourth and one and we went for it. Josh McCray got the first down with an unbelievable run. But if it wouldn’t have got fourth and one, Coach Smart wouldn’t have let us go for it right there. But that was just, that plus one run has really helped our running game, especially in the red zone.”
On Ryan Puglisi staying engaged in the program...
“Well, again, you have no choice but to stay engaged in this program because whether you’re a one, two, three, or four on a depth chart, you’re getting thrown out there and practicing. Practicing around here, I like to say they’re games. But that is a hard thing to do for the position of quarterback. Every other position, they got a chance to get in the game, they got a chance to play. Because one guy’s not gonna play every snap, they get a chance to play special teams. A quarterback, they’re probably not gonna play unless that guy goes down with an injury. But I think he had a great role model when he came in last year.Carson (Beck) did a great job of mentoring him and teaching him. And then seeing the backup last year in Gunner, how he worked and how he prepared. I think Ryan’s in that room and he’s seeing those guys, how they prepare, how they work, go about their business, the starter and the backup, was good for him, good to see. And he’s approached every day, whether you had a good day the day before or a bad day, of treating that day like he’s the starter. And I say that all the time, and we said it, but that’s hard to do.I mean, I had to get on Gunner his first year, he wasn’t doing that. And kinda took some steps back until I said, hey man, every time we practice, you’re practicing, this practice is like we’re about to play Alabama. That’s gotta be your focus. And I say it in the meeting all the time, and I ask Gunner, what did I say back to three years ago, Gunner? And he’ll repeat what I say, so Ryan’s heard that. But Ryan’s a self-motivated kid. He’s got a natural competitive instinct, character about him. I think that’s what drove him to come to Georgia to play at a place like Georgia. He didn’t flinch in who we were recruiting at that time, who we were recruiting after him. He’s never flinched.He wants to be here. He wants to develop in this system, and he has developed. He’s got a ton of reps this year. He went from hardly getting any reps as the three that he’s got. Every rep is the two, and we see his development. I’m really pleased of where he is as a football player and a possible leader in this program.”
