When Gunner Stockton graduated early from Rabun County High School, he was rated as a top-10 quarterback nationally by the major services. He was the nation’s No. 124 overall prospect by the 247Sports Composite.
His early high school 5-star ranking took a dip when he didn’t participate in the All-American camps and showcase circuit. He chose not to compete in the Elite 11 because he prioritized workouts and practices, where he kept a sterling attendance record for all four years of high school.
When Carson Beck graduated in 2020, he was ranked as the No. 254 overall recruit in the country. When Georgia saw the two-year starter with strong NFL potential leave the game with an injury against Texas in the SEC Championship game, the Bulldogs were able to replace him with a higher-rated high school prospect.
Stockton played in 53 high school games. He either threw or ran for a staggering 254 touchdowns, averaging 4.8 touchdowns per game.
Gunner Stockton was a prolific high school player in Georgia
For numbers fanatics, the Stockton high school stat line will catch your eye:
- 13,652 career passing yards (69% completion percentage).
- 177 touchdown passes to only 17 interceptions (10.4 touchdown to interception ratio).
- 4,372 career rushing yards on 7.2 yards per carry.
- 77 rushing touchdowns.
- 45-6 record as a starter.
- There were 13 games when he scored seven or more TDs (running and passing).
That sort of high school production allowed him to break GHSA records set by future national champions and NFL draft first-round picks Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson.
- Career touchdown passes previously held by Lawrence (2014-17).
- Combined touchdowns (running and passing) previously held by Watson (2010-13).
- Total yardage for a career (all forms) previously held by Watson (2010-13).
In September 2020, Stockton’s Rabun County team faced off against powerhouse Prince Avenue Christian, led by 5-star Georgia QB commitment Brock Vandagriff at the time.
Stockton, just a junior at the time, led Rabun County to the win. Both QBs would end up in Athens, though Vandagriff later transferred to Kentucky, where he was a starter for the 2024 season.
Stockton’s on-field performance created a lot of scrapbook moments, but he also made his mark behind the scenes when he and his fellow seniors cleaned up their locker room after every practice and game.
Where did the name ‘Gunner’ come from?
In high school, Stockton had a habit of saying “shoot” before a lot of his answers. Former Georgia tight end Brock Bowers would do the same thing.
But that’s not where nickname, straight out of Hollywood central casting, comes from.
The story begins with the notion his parents believed in a “circle of life” with their children. They searched for uncommon names that had a link to the family. His mother, Sherrie, brought up a connection to a family member named “Georgie” when they named their daughter.
His older sister is named Georgia.
“Gunner has a family name, too,” Sherrie Stockton said in 2020. “Rob’s granddad was in World War II. Both of his grandfathers were. He was actually a gunner on the belly or nose of one of those planes.”
Gunner’s great-grandfather died before he was born. The name was meant to honor him in the same way Georgia honored “Georgie” when she was born.
A newspaper article led to Gunner’s first name. During that time, soldiers were identified in print as Airman Jones or Aerial Gunner Sgt. Stockton. The original “Gunner” Stockton served in the Eighth Air Force.
“His great-grandfather was a togglier,” his uncle Allyn Stockton said. “They toggled off and on with the bombs. Part of his job was to pull the arming pins out of the nose of the bombs.”
Allyn Stockton said his grandfather completed nearly 20 missions with his squadron but was shot down at least two times. The newspaper account of his service didn’t refer to him by his first name, but rather his role in the military and then his full name.
“He was listed as Gunner Stockton, and Rob was like that’s a really cool name,” Sherrie Stockton said.
That was the plan.
“You know how it is,” his mother said. “When you are pregnant, I never told anybody about it. Because I said to myself, I know I am naming him ‘Gunner’ and if anybody says anything ugly about it, it is going to make me mad, and I don’t want any of that. So I never told anybody what his name was going to be.”
His great-grandfather’s name actually was V.D. Stockton. He was a district attorney in the Rabun County region for about 30 years.
When Gunner played baseball coming up with the famous East Cobb program, a coach who had worked with former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm noticed him. That coach even named him “Little Jake” because of the vast ability and poise he showed at an early age.
“It is funny how life goes like that,” Sherrie Stockton said. “We knew who Jake Fromm was and had heard all about him before just about everyone else in Georgia did.”
In case you want some more Stockton trivia, he once asked for cattle for Christmas. He got a bull, five calves and five heifers for his herd, which he tended to as an after-school job.
He also had a CB radio that he used while driving his grandfather’s 1985 Ford pickup. It had almost 300,000 miles on it. He could have had a much nicer truck, but he wanted to drive that.
The ‘stock’ in Stockton’s game
Stockton comes from an athletic family.
His father was one of the great safeties in Georgia Southern history. He was named to the Georgia Southern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. Rob Stockton started his last 48 games as an Eagle and finished with 322 career tackles.
His father also was the defensive coordinator for Rabun County while Stockton was scoring all those touchdowns. Rob Stockton wanted him to be a great athlete, but an even better person.
“The kindest. The gentlest. The best friend. Opening doors for women and ‘yes ma’am’ and ‘no ma’am’ and that’s him. Thankfully,” Rob Stockton said. “But when you step across those white lines (on a football field), then that is time to unleash hell. Be that person.”
Sherrie Stockton, his mother, left her name high among the all-time leaders at Erskine College as a scholarship basketball player.
Gunner’s older sister, Georgia, was a scholarship college basketball player at Presbyterian College. The All-State selection averaged 21.1 points per game, shot 40% from behind the arc and 80% from the free-throw line.
Stockton’s connection to the Bobo family
His first scholarship offer, from North Carolina, came in the eighth grade at a UNC camp, when he was able to throw farther than two future starters at power-conference programs.
When he was asked to go meet the head coach in his office, the family wondered if they did something wrong.
That camp singled him out for his arm strength and accuracy, but nobody was expecting an offer. Appalachian State and North Carolina, then coached by Larry Fedora, offered him at essentially the same time.
Clemson, along with every school in the country, soon would flock to Rabun County.
The Tigers once told Stockton he was QB No. 1 on their board. Coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs also were a major player in his recruitment from the start.
Stockton initially committed to play for Will Muschamp at South Carolina. The Stockton family essentially had been committed to then-Gamecocks assistant Mike Bobo and his family since he was in elementary school.
Bobo’s father, George, was a legendary high school coach in Thomasville. He also was an assistant coach at Rabun County, when he became Stockton’s throwing coach as he worked his way up the elementary, youth ball and middle school ranks.
George Bobo started training Gunner when he was 6 years old.
Stockton’s initial pledge to Mike Bobo, when he was the offensive coordinator at South Carolina, makes it only fitting Bobo was calling the plays for Stockton in the SEC Championship game against Texas.
Bobo basically has known Stockton and his family his whole life.
What he said when he committed to Georgia
Stockton committed to South Carolina on Aug. 20, 2020, before his junior season.
Muschamp was fired from South Carolina three months later.
Stockton decommitted from the Gamecocks on Jan. 12, 2021 and switched his pledge to UGA a week later.
The decision came down to Auburn and Georgia. Bobo had been hired as the offensive coordinator for Auburn at that point. The Tigers offered him a scholarship four days later, but that was not enough time to offset years of recruiting by Georgia.
When Stockton committed to UGA, Georgia had Stetson Bennett IV, Carson Beck and Brock Vandagriff in the QB group.
“Georgia is where I’m going and where I’ll graduate,” he said.
“Anywhere you go, you are going to have to compete,” he said in January 2021. “But now with the portal and everything, you don’t know who’s going to be there. So just get there and compete and have fun.”
