Kirby Smart is the last one to 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.

But Smart has 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).”

Indeed, 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 Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion and sophomore Tayln Taylor, who was injured much of last season, also makes a difference.

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

“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 out-matched 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 currently ninth among the preseason Heisman Trophy favorites at +2200, per the FanDuel Sports book.

Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr is the favorite at +700.

Other SEC quarterbacks with better Heisman Trophy odds than Stockton are Texas’ Arch Manning (+850) and Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss (+1500).

Four quarterbacks Georgia is schedule to face in the regular season are also among the favorites, with Oklahoma John Mateer and Alabama’s Keelon Russell at +2500, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers at +4000 and Florida’s Aaron Philo at +5500.