ATHENS — Saturday will still be a first for Gunner Stockton. Despite taking first-team reps in games against Texas, Notre Dame and Tennessee, Saturday will be the first time he starts an SEC game at home.
It will also be his first crack at Alabama, a game that has defined Georgia quarterbacks in recent years.
Jake Fromm lost close heartbreaks in Atlanta. Stetson Bennett dropped two games by the score of 41-24 before leading Georgia to a 33-18 win in the 2022 National Championship Game.
Carson Beck lost in the 2023 SEC Championship Game before losing at Alabama last season. That game against the Crimson Tide summed up Beck’s season. Turnovers, moments of brilliance but ultimately a frustrating end.
Stockton will get a chance to write his own story. One that has already taken plenty of twists and turns.
“I had a perfect view of the touchdown to London, man,” wide receiver Zachariah Branch said. “I’m just replaying it in my head. It was such a great moment just seeing him go out there and make that play. You couldn’t ask for a better ball from Gunner right there. Those are plays that he makes in practice, routine practice plays, but I know he’ll be up and making the game. He made that perfect play right there for us.”
The throw Branch is referencing is the 28-yarder to London Humphreys against Tennessee. That touchdown pulled Georgia to within two in the fourth quarter. The next play, Stockton found Branch for a two-point conversion to tie the game.
Stockton entered the Tennessee game with plenty of skeptics and critics. His 304-yard, 3-touchdown performance silenced most of those. He won SEC Offensive Player of the Week in his last time out.
For as brilliant as Stockton was against Tennessee, the Volunteers were missing their top two cornerbacks. The Alabama defense, even one that was gashed by Florida State, poses a different test.
Tommy Castellanos completed just 9 of his 14 pass attempts for 152 yards but he ran for 78 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown.
Expect Stockton’s legs to be a part of the game plan. He’s got three rushing touchdowns in the season, including one on the opening drive against Tennessee.
With an off week to prepare, you can bet Alabama spent a long time scheming things up to make life difficult for Georgia and Stockton.
“They’ve got a lot of moving parts, a lot to prepare for,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They move their backers around, they have different looks they give you. They disguise in the secondary, they move players around, they have different coverages, they mix man and zone well.”
For all the scheme talk, Alabama still possesses a defense brimming with former top recruits. Many of which Georgia also tried to land. Those physical attributes show up on tape, even for all the hand-wringing after the Florida State loss.
Having seen Texas and Notre Dame, Stockton likely won’t be overwhelmed on Saturday. That he’ll get to play in front of a Sanford Stadium crowd should only help Stockton.
Confidence in the Georgia offense, after scoring 44 points on the road while trailing for much of the contest, is high. They’ve proved at an SEC level.
Now they get to go prove it against Alabama.
“To go out there in the game and do it with something that is important for us as an offense, get a chance to show it against other opponents, not just in practice,” Branch said. “So I feel like we’re continuously growing as an offense day in and day out, and I’m excited for the future.”
Georgia also got an off week to prepare for the Crimson Tide. That allowed Georgia to get healthy on the offensive line and at running back.
The former is counting on freshmen Juan Gaston and Dontrell Glover to play key roles, while running back Dwight Phillips Jr. picked up an injury against Tennessee.
All aspects of the Georgia offense should benefit from the extra week of work.
“We gotta score touchdowns in the red area,” Smart said. “We gotta be able to run the ball efficiently, we gotta be able to play action, gotta be able to drop back, gotta be able to perimeter block. I mean, there’s nothing that didn’t need work coming out of the Tennessee game.”
That includes Stockton, who did have a costly fourth-quarter fumble against Tennessee.
The throw Stockton made to Humphreys helped erase any big picture concerns when it comes to Stockton. He was more than capable of meeting the moment.
The Alabama game represents another opportunity for Stockton. One where he can further author his own legacy and make the past struggles for Georgia quarterbacks against Alabama seem like a distant memory.
“A lot of people say that he doesn’t really talk that much, but he actually does,” Branch said. “He’s a real good leader. He takes a lot of orchestration in the offense, in the huddle and things like that, just making sure everybody’s on the same page.”
