Former Georgia QB suggests how Kirby Smart wants Gunner Stockton’s mindset

ATHENS — Kirby Smart makes it a point to control the narrative around his Georgia football team, especially when it comes to creating urgency.

That’s not to say Smart doesn’t believe what he is saying.

It’s more a matter of what topics the 10th-year Georgia head football coach chooses to address and expand on while downplaying others.

Perhaps that’s why former three-year starting quarterback Jake Fromm suspects Smart approves of — and in fact, might be contributing to — the angst around projected starting quarterback Gunner Stockton and the Bulldogs’ overlooked offense this preseason.

“I wonder if he has anything to do with this, and I’m talking about Coach Kirby Smart, of playing this narrative into his hands,” Fromm said on a recent appearance on the DawgNation Daily Show.

“Thinking from his perspective, ‘this is kind of right where I want the team, right where I want Gunner.’ “ Fromm said, projecting Smart’s thoughts.

“I want Gunner in this hungry mindset, but I don’t want to put too much on his shoulders. I don’t want to put too much pressure, or stress, (or have him) feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.”

Fromm, it’s worth noting, was arguably the best Georgia quarterback spokesperson of Smart’s coaching era.

At one point Fromm was in a well-publicized competition with then-freshman Justin Fields, and Smart refused to name a starting quarterback.

“The plan is there is no plan,” Smart famously said of his two quarterbacks at the time.

Fromm, himself, was continually asked if he was the starting quarterback but always held true to the company line, dodging the question.

But on one occasion Fromm couldn’t resist confirming what most everyone had figured out, as he was taking first-team reps in all of the practices, and had a much greater command of running the offense than Fields, then a true freshman.

When asked about playing with talented tailback D’Andre Swift, Fromm replied, “I can’t wait to turn around and hand the ball off to him on the first play of the game.”

Fromm knew he was the starting quarterback, even if he couldn’t come out and say it in those words.

Smart, by selecting Stockton to represent Georgia at the SEC Media Days along with team captains CJ Allen and Daylen Everette, has pretty much indicated who the starting quarterback will be without actually making the announcement.

That said, Smart will surely continue to say there is competition every day at every position and no one has room for complacency.

Look back: How Jake Fromm decided to go Pro early from Georgia

Fromm does have a good idea of how Smart thinks when it comes to the mindset he wants to create in his quarterback.

“I want this guy to play free,” Fromm said, “play relentless, and not feel like he has to do every single thing for the team for the team to have success.”

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That certainly applies to Stockton, who for all of his high school records and achievements, remains one of the more unheralded quarterbacks in the SEC.

Smart, like any good coach, will provide whatever mental edge he can to help Stockton — or any member of his team — find success.