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Georgia makes it clear Gunner Stockton will, and has to, improve in 2026
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Georgia makes it clear Gunner Stockton will, and has to, improve in 2026
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I love watching Gunner play…he is such an elite "point guard" and bulldog out there. It seems like the biggest thing holding him back is his downfield awareness and making the longer throws. His awareness crumbles quickly when the OL is not having a great day at pass protection…we saw that early in the season and it reared it's **** ahead again in the sugar bowl. We hear it often that he may give up a little too soon in the pressure situations, but just based on the eye test, it seems like his motions can also be a little slow and too methodical when guys are open mid/long range, and this results in guys like Branch taking big hits and/or having to make tougher catches than usual.
Just to sum up here…if Gunner can raise his downfield passing game a notch or two, he will easily win a Heisman Trophy. The combination of a better/healthier OL, more guys like Branch and Young, and improved downfield awareness will get him and the Dawgs there. Stetson had a lot of the same attributes, and even struggled with batted balls, but he had a long pass game that we just haven't seen yet from Gunner.
Ha, I didn't realize "u g l y h e a d" was offensive, my bad. 🙃
Great article Connor. I've been saying much of the same kind of thing for weeks now. As resilient, tough, gritty, and talented Gunner is, he needs to become a better passer, reader of defense, and overall player. Most of Gunner's completions come from screen passes and short dunks. He definitely needs a better suite of receivers around him. And we've got one of the best TE groups in the country, but the last 2 seasons, our TEs have been almost exclusively used for blocking rather than catching passes. Other the the first play of this Ole Miss loss, and during the first Ole Miss win, our TE threat has been almost nonexistent.
The SEC had the weakest field of teams in years. Oklahoma couldn't beat Bama but played them pretty competitively. Indiana destroyed Bama like they were a scrimmage team. The Dawgs schedule this season was easier than last season, so one certainly would hope we would do better. But we struggled in too many games.
Georgia went in with a plan to physically dominate the Rebels. It didn't materialize. When Dawgs had 1st and goal down three, I thought they had Ole Miss checkmated. The following sequence typified the game for Georgia; missed assignments, yet another TFL and unable to move Ole Miss front. For stretches it looked like Ole Miss knew what was coming. Stockton never looked comfortable the entire night. And poor coaching decisions cost us points. Chambliss was clearly the more effective passer and his play made a difference.
Just like last season, every game this season you never knew which Georgia team would show up. Dawgs played some great games, but overall we've lost our dominant edge. We're running in circles and not really moving forward. Sure, blame injuries or whatever on this final loss. But, believe me, for Kirby to not make it past the 1st game of the playoffs for a 2nd year in a row is killing him. And it should. We're not finishing the drill. We're playing too much school yard football to survive and win games.
Something has to change moving forward. We need a better offensive game plan and ultimately that means a better QB and a more effective passing attack to compliment our strong running game. It's not my job to find a new QB or better receivers. That's on Kirby. Maybe it's just Stockton growing and playing more. I don't know. But this team is stuck in neutral.
give the kid an offensive line in front of him and it’ll all work.
Trolls in 3,2,1
You have to love everything about Gunner as a person, tough player, and leader: they don’t come much better than him. The article nicely points out the challenges he presents as a QB and that is definitely limiting. You can’t blame receivers or the O line for these as there is often a receiver open when he makes decisions. The problem of not using an incredibly talented TE room centers on Stocktons inability to throw across the middle. With Georgia’s room of TEs and speedy slot receivers, the middle is a huge advantage that Georgia doesn’t take advantage of because he can’t make those throws. This results in having to roll him out or make quick short throws. That alone, basically takes away at least half of the offensive playbook.
The coaches got stuck in a Mano v Mano battle with ole Miss and couldn’t or wouldn’t admit a different approach or scheme was needed. The game was there for the taking but those 5 possessions that did nothing gave ole Miss a wide open door and left the defense exposed. Not only does Stockton need to get better and evolve, but the coaches and schemes also must improve. It’s not fair to expect so much fire, passion, and energy from the team and watch them improve and offer up coaching like we saw in that game.
Great foundation for continued success and it will take work from everyone to make it back to the top. Thanks for an awesome season and always, Go DAWGS!
Gunner didn’t lose the game, nor did any of his teammates. The coaches flat out lost this game. Terrible game plan, bad offensive and defensive play calls, and some of the worst in game decisions from Kirby since his first season. He still struggles with time management at the end of each half and that definitely cost us the game. The OL needs a new coach. We all know Bobo will stay but he has to find new plays to run. Kirby let the wrong best friend leave when Muschamp went to Texas. He should have let bobo go instead.
I know Georgia has been beaten worse and has had a lot of upset losses in the past, but that loss was embarrassing. This should have been an easy win because of ole miss having a second game head coach and the entire offensive staff was working two jobs. I know they were motivated because of Kiffin, but that loss was inexcusable. Kirby is going to have to make a lot of adjustments during the offseason and stop being so stubborn about his way. We’re losing too many 5 star recruits lately, especially ones that have been committed for a while, grew up in the state, or 2nd generation Georgia players. NIL and the portal is destroying college football and it’s slowly eating away at Georgia in the process. Let’s be honest, Georgia backed into the SEC title game the last two seasons. Teams had to lose for Georgia to get there both seasons. Thank the Lord he can still beat our top rivals.
And just stop the “Gunner can win the heisman next season” narrative. Not with Bobo as OC. Go Dawgs!
Sounds as though you made it "clear" - stick to linking social media & ESPN info. When it comes to football, that is about as far as your limited knowledge of the game goes…nothing but a troll, Kirby should completely cut you off.
We had an a very good set of wide rceivers and the O line while not great was adequate.
Until Bobo quits trying to turn Gunner into a dropback passer and adapts his offense to the skills of the qb it will be more of the same. It was obvious to everyone except the coaches that the offense clicks when Gunner is undercenter opening up playaction. He's a better passer on the move. His slow release and height along with the playcalling nearly eliminates throws over the middle. ( Throughout pro and college the middle is where TE 's thrive with slants, stop and go's, quick turn arounds which Bobo rarely if ever calls.) I hope (but doubt) that Bobo will take a cue from the Miss offense on how to use quick throws vertically instead of at or behind the line.
First I want to say that Gunner Stockton is a very good qb and a **** good Dawg, but like everyone there are some things that he needs to improve in and there are some things that quite frankly he cannot change. One of those is that he is not very tall, look at him in the huddle and his helmet is coming up to about the shoulder pads of his linemen. That doesn’t mean he can‘t be a great qb but it is going to make it tougher for him to throw those passes over the middle which we really need in our offense. I suspect his height may also play a role in what I see as a major need for improvement, finding open receivers. I know is easy for me to say watching on my couch, but there were so many instances where he might pull it down and run or throw into coverage where there was a receiver wide open. I feel comfortable that he and the coaches are working on those things and I look forward to the 2026 season.
Don't be so positive David.
Get off this kid’s back. We’d be 8-4 without him. His coordinator is the problem, always has been. You and the entire fan base who have suffered through not just the last 3 years of incompetence but many more before that are delusional if you think the players are the problem. Just take a at the play calls from late 2nd Q through the 3rd Q. Perhaps the worst play calling you will witness at any level of football. That game was lost during that stretch when the offense completely destroyed the momentum we had. Can we please just call a spade a spade for once and for all. The history and the facts bear it out. When our team’s have underachieved the one common denominator is inexplicably terrible play calling and game management on the offensive side of the ball. Quite frankly Gunner deserves a lot better.
The O-line really cost us this time. Freeling completely missed his block on the sack fumble, and it looked exactly like the stuff he was doing against Notre Dame last year. Whatever they’re coaching up front just isn’t sticking. At this point it feels like we’re just hoping luck bails us out instead of actually fixing the problems. Again, coaching is lacking almost everywhere you look in this game.
Why do we always point to needing better receivers. The recieving core was not this problem. The problem is Gunner Stockton not being able to read defenses and find the open man. There was a plethora of open receivers ALL season long only for him to tuck and run or get sacked.