When Gunner Stockton was 6, his youth football team was struggling to get off snaps during games, so coaches turned to him to be the quarterback.
He has been there since. And now as a four-year starter for the Rabun County Wildcats and an AJC Super 11 selection, Stockton is closing in on numerous state records held by Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson.
Stockton and the Wildcats said they don’t talk about the records he could break, which include Lawrence’s career passing yards and touchdowns and Watson’s combined passing/rushing yards and touchdowns.
Stockton, a lifelong Tiger resident, is reserved. He says “heck” a lot, but doesn’t shy away from the belief his No. 2-ranked Wildcats (2-1) can bring home their first state title for a program that began in 1949.
“I’m very confident,” said Stockton, who committed to Georgia. “This is the year to do it, and if we don’t, it’s a bust year.”
If the Wildcats accomplish that feat — Rabun County has played in the title game, two quarterfinals and a semifinal the past four seasons — it will be behind 19 returning starters, many who played with Stockton on his youth team.
“Ever since freshman year, we’ve always been told we’re the group, and we really just want to play for Game 15,” said offensive lineman Bear Old, a three-year starter and lifelong Stockton teammate.
Stockton has been building toward this year well before his high school career began. In sixth grade, he was introduced to the shotgun spread offense designed by former Wildcats coach Lee Shaw, a Class of 1984 Rabun County quarterback who returned in 2012 to take the program to unprecedented heights.
The Wildcats are 96-21 since Shaw took over and are winners of the past seven Region 8-2A titles, although Shaw’s oldest son, Jaybo Shaw, took over as coach in 2019.
Jaybo Shaw played in his father’s offense while quarterbacking Flowery Branch in the late 2000s, then played for Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern. Jaybo’s younger brother, Connor Shaw, also quarterbacked Flowery Branch and started for the Cleveland Browns in 2014 as an undrafted free agent from South Carolina.
When asked where Stockton ranks among quarterbacks that have gone through his family’s offense, which goes back to Lee Shaw’s first coaching stint at White County in 1995, Jaybo Shaw doesn’t hesitate.
“He’s the best,” he said. “If you had to go 1-2, it’s Gunner and then Bailey (Fisher), and I think my brother would agree with that. ... When I look back at some of the quarterbacks who have played in this system, there are some good ones with some special careers. Watching Gunner grow from freshman year all the way to now and being a four-year starter, he’s taken this offense to another level.”
Fisher is now quarterbacking Gardner-Webb after leading the Wildcats to their only title appearance in 2017. He set several school records in the process.
By the time Stockton was in eighth grade, he was starting for the Wildcats’ JV team and shadowing his predecessor, Fisher, as the scout-team quarterback, getting reps with the varsity team.
“After staring JV, by ninth grade I felt I was ready,” Stockton said. “It all worked out.”
On Friday, the Wildcats will travel to South Carolina to play a Saluda Tigers team that is ranked No. 3 in 2A. It was supposed to be a bye week, but it became the second week that Rabun County has scheduled an out-of-state opponent after COVID-19 wiped out two games, including a televised showdown against Class 1A Private’s No. 2 ELCA.
“Our seniors deserve 10 games, and I was going to do everything I could to get it,” Shaw said.
They’ll host Pickens (S.C.) next week and then close out their non-region schedule with a 290-mile trip south to 3A’s No. 3 Pierce County on Oct. 1.
As Stockton chases records and a title, college football fans are wondering what type of quarterback he’ll be.
Old said to expect more greatness.
“If Gunner goes to Georgia and he’s not in the rotation his freshman year I will be shocked,” Old said. “He knows the game better than any quarterback I’ve seen. I’ve seen him draw up plays that are put into the playbook that he just thought of, and he’s had some say in the plays we run. He has a great offensive mind, and I know he’ll dominate the next level.”
Said Stockton, “I don’t think too much about it, but when I went to watch Georgia play (against Clemson), it’s just cool to think about what lies ahead.”
Including his three games this season, Stockton has passed for 10,391 yards and 133 touchdowns, trailing Lawrence (13,902 and 161). His 14,110 yards and 197 touchdowns combined rushing and passing trail Watson’s 17,134 and 214.
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