ATHENS — There are plenty of differences between Gunner Stockton and Carson Beck.
Stockton drives a 1984 Ford F-150, which has gained plenty of notoriety in recent weeks. Beck made waves when he purchased a Lamborghini Urus Performante earlier this year.
Beck has started 27 games as a collegiate quarterback. Stockton has yet to start.
Compared with a flashier Beck, Stockton — native of Rabun County with country boy tendencies — once asked for a small herd of cattle for Christmas.
“You know, there’s always been the running joke of he made like an Instagram post a long time ago,” said Oscar Delp, Stockton’s roommate. “’It was always great to wake up to a new cow on game day’ or something. And, you know, everyone kind of loved that on the team.
“I mean, that’s just the guy he is. I mean, he just loves stuff like that. I mean, he’s not about all the Instagram fame and all that. I mean, he’ll take a picture of his cow and post it when he’s happy, and, you know, it’s cool. I mean, he takes pride in it.”
Beck and Stockton don’t just have different personalities. They have different play styles as well.
Arian Smith noted how catching a pass is different between the two of them, based on how the ball comes out of their respective hands.
Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has worked to tailor the Georgia offense to better suit Stockton and his skill set. It helps that Bobo had extra time because of Georgia’s first-round bye.
“He’s approached it just like he has all season,” Bobo said during a press conference Saturday. “I can’t say enough for the way he started the season and approached every game. Which sometimes that’s just words that we say, you’ve got be ready. But his day in and day out, how he approached getting ready for the game as if he was the starter, I think has prepared him for this moment. If you asked me that last year, I don’t think he had that same mindset. We talked about it going into the season, you’ve got to prepare as you’re the starter every week. And he took that to heart, and he did an excellent job of that.”
Bobo’s relationship with Stockton long predates their time together in Athens. Bobo’s father, George, coached Stockton on the art of playing quarterback at the age of 6. Stockton first committed to play for Bobo at South Carolina.
Now, three years into his time at Georgia, Stockton has the chance to take the main stage as a starter for the Bulldogs.
“My message to Gunner, and really to any quarterback that I’ve ever coached, is you have to be Gunner Stockton,” Bobo said. “You can’t try to be coach Kirby Smart, coach Mike Bobo. You can’t try to be Carson Beck. You can’t try to be Jake Fromm, Stetson Bennett. You have to be Gunner Stockton because I’m going to be Mike Bobo, and I want you to be Gunner Stockton, and if we’re who we are all the time around each other, I think that’s where the trust goes, and you can get further along in the relationship and get where you want to go on the football field if you handle it that way. And nobody’s trying to be somebody else.”
In recent weeks, offensive lineman Tate Ratledge noticed how Stockton has been more at ease in the huddle. Ratledge also said that Stockton has been staying late at the facility to watch film.
“I mean, I walked in here the other night at 10 o’clock, because I forgot something, Gunner’s sitting in there watching film,” Ratledge said. “So, just his buy-in right now is what’s huge, and just the respect he has from everybody. I mean, he plays with a lot of emotion.”
In addition to his work ethic, Stockton’s mobility should impact the Georgia offense in multiple ways. Trevor Etienne said that Stockton’s ability to run will be “huge” for the Bulldogs.
This is not the first time that a quarterback has had to make their first career start against Notre Dame. Fromm did so before the 2017 game and he had only a week to prepare for that game. Yet he came away with a 20-19 win over the Fighting Irish.
“You know, none of us are worried about anything,” Delp said. “I mean, when he came into that game, no one flinched. I mean, we all rallied behind him. We know what kind of player he is. We’ve seen it for the past three years, and we know how good of a quarterback he is. So I think we’re really just excited for everyone else to finally get to see what he can do.”
Watch Gunner Stockton practice ahead of Georgia football bowl game
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