ATHENS — Georgia got a preview of what a more confident and experienced Gunner Stockton looked like on an early third down during G-Day.

Facing a third and eight, Stockton picked up the coverage Georgia’s starting defense was in and made an audbile. He changed the play, singling to tight Lawson Luckie to adjust his route.

The switch worked wonderfully, as Luckie found himself wide open and picked up a 24-yard gain for the conversion.

“Gunner put it right where I needed it to be and it was a great third down conversion,” Luckie said.

Stockton is widely seen as Georgia’s starting quarterback for the 2025 season, even if he has not yet been formally named as such.

He’s got a massive experience edge over backup Ryan Puglisi and looked like the better of the two quarterbacks on G-Day. Stockton received significantly more first team reps and had the better day statsically. He threw for 309 yards and 2 touchdowns on the afternoon, even while only completing half of his 34 pass attempts and throwing an interception.

So much of Stockton’s season will be judge by how he looks when there’s a non-Georgia defense he has to disect. Carson Beck routinely drew praise for his ability to diagnose what an opponent wanted to do.

The third-down conversion to Luckie was a clear example of how Stockton has grown in that regard this spring.

“Confidence, understanding the offense, knowing when to take a shot, which he didn’t do a great job today,” Smart said. “He had a couple times where he could have thrown the ball or checked it down. He took shots that he probably didn’t have to. But he’s done a really good job with his feet, his legs.”

An example of knowing when not to take a shot came on the next play, as Stockton threw to the endzone for a would-be touchdown to Colbie Young. But the pass wasn’t perfect and Daniel Harris came down with an easy interception. Making matters worse, it was a first down pass attempt and no herocis were needed in the situation.

Stockton hasn’t been shy when it comes to being an aggressive player. He dropped his shoulder to run over a Texas defender on his first drive in Beck’s place during the SEC Championship game. His overtime run is another example of Stockon willing to do whatever he can to make a big play.

Of course, that can sometimes backfire. In the Notre Dame loss, Stockton held the ball for a touch too long, leading to a fumble just before halftime. Notre Dame scored on a shortned field the next play.

With big plays come big rewards. But there’s also danger in that regard, especially when Georgia is often the better team.

Smart hasn’t been afraid to ride Stockton and try and tamper down that aggressive, gunslinger mindset. Like Wyatt Earp trying to keep a lid on Doc Holliday, Stockton knows how to take coaching.

“I mean, there were a couple times when Kirby ripped into him and he didn’t even flinch, came back and he scored the next shot,“ Luckie said of Stockton. ”I love how tough Gunner is. He never gets discouraged and that’s my favorite thing about him."

Stockton shook off the interception, as it was his only misfire on the afternoon.

As the day progressed, Stockton got sharper and sharper. He threaded in a 36-yard pass to Zachariah Branch to set up Georgia’s first touchdown of the afternoon.

In the third quarter, he hit Dillon Bell for a 49-yard connection and then came back on the next play to find Jeremy Bell for a 31-yard touchdown strike.

Where he was unable to find Young early in the game, Stockton made a much better throw to Bell with Joenel Aguero in coverage.

“I’d say decision making with his reads,” Cash Jones said of where Stockton has improved the most. “He’s really a lot smoother and fluent with it. He does a great job with that. I feel like he’s really confident with protections.”

G-Day has always been an aerial show, so it’s hard to take too much from how Stockton did in terms of totally mastering the offense.

It’s no secret Georgia has to run the ball better in 2025 than it did last season. Stockton is a willing and a capable runner, but Haynes King of Georgia Tech he is not.

Georgia’s offensive line is still very much under construction, with Monroe Freeling and Daniel Calhoun both missing the spring game. Those are two likely starters for the Bulldogs.

How Stockton helps that group in terms of how he communicates and make changes will be critical for the nondemanding Stockton.

“We’ve had a void that we knew was coming with Dylan (Fairchild), Jared (Wilson), Tate (Ratledge), (Xavier) Truss that’s been there,” Smart said of the offensive line. “It’s been coming for a while, so we’ve tried to make up for it and put the right kind of kids in those shoes, but they’re not where those kids were yet.”

Stockton took command of the first team offense this spring. His voice clearly resonates with the team, even if he is still learning how to crank it to max volume.

Stockton has come a long way from the green quarterback who chucked an interception to Texas in the SEC Champinoship game. This spring, Stockton showed improvement in terms of slowing the game down and making the right decision, rather than the one with the biggest potential gain.

He is still yet to officially earn the starting quarterback job. Given how much Smart values competition, That was always likely to be the case following the conclusion of spring practice,

Stockton is hitting all the checkmarks of someone who looks like they will line up under center for the first game of the season for the Georgia Bulldogs.