The feeling is clear about Georgia Football: It is now the Gunner Stockton team now

Athens, GA. – The recipients were ready, warm and ready for their big moment. The NFL people, including Mike Tomlin, a few other head coaches and practically all of the Atlanta Falcons employees, were ready. The only question: who would throw the players?

In the past few days in Georgia Pro, when the program had no quarterback in the design, the recipients would choose one. Someone with a good arm that could make her look good. When the recipient's moment approached, the mini drama built … until Gunner Stockton and his wide smile had been published.

It was not a good shock: he is the team's only quarterback with gaming experience. Dom Lovett, one of the recipients, said Stockton's class plan also made it available. But when asked whether he had chosen Stockton, the recipient replied: “Oh yes.”

It has been four months since Stockton appeared in the national scene when he was immersed in the SEC championship and then by Carson Beck's right elbow injury. This gave all stories about his modest roots, the Ford F-158 from 1984, which he still drives. Now the focus is only on football. And this program encounters the feeling that this is the Stockton team that can be guided.

Nobody has declared Stockton a starter. But everyone is sure that he talks as if he had this role. When Kirby Smart was asked this week what he had seen since the Sugar Bowl of Stockton, he did not mention a competition or one of the other quarterbacks and talked about how teammates are interested in Stockton.

“He is a huge leader, but that's nothing that I didn't know yet. … he did everything right since he was here, ”said Smart. “He has a lot of knowledge about our system and I think this type of player swings from the other players. They gather around Gunner because they have a lot of respect for him. “

Former players who spoke about Stockton during the professional day shared a similar mood.

Center Jared Wilson: “Gunner, I love Gunner. I was so excited – in any case I hated to see Carson going down, you never want a teammate to be injured and the mental battles he went through. But when Gunner went into this game, it brought a little more juice into the team. “

Recipient Dominic Lovett: “He always has a smile on his face, no matter how the circumstances he smiles. He is a great guy who is nearby. He is a great leader. I have the feeling that no matter what is going on, he is very balanced and I have the feeling that he can control the room.”

Recipient Arian Smith: “He will come in and be positive, have a positive attitude and bring boys. I am looking forward to making this crime this crime this coming season. “

Ryan Puglisi could still be a factor, but experience is very important. Puglisi as a newcomer to redshirt has been two years behind and was injured last spring.

Georgia could still add an experienced quarterback in the spring portal what it tried in winter. But the Bulldogs have less likely a start option than you to end up with someone who could occur if Stockton was injured.

The main question is whether Stockton could actually be a good start quarters. If you combine the way he led the ball in the SEC championship with the way he thrown the sugar shell, that would be ideal. Better pocket presence-Matstatt to give up the groundbreaking sack strip for Notre Dame-also required. Georgia hopes that this will be accompanied by experience. And that it can pay off by having the chance to build the crime in this full low season to build its skills.

Georgia hopes that the reception situation can be helped: Recipient Noah Thomas (a transfer of Texas A&M) and Colbie Young (reinstated) give him two great recipients on the X -Spot that Beck did not have last year. As a result, Dillon Bell can play a more natural position on the flanker spot, and Zachariah branch (a transfer in Southern California) can be dynamic from the slot.

The ongoing game and the offensive line are important concerns. But the leadership and chemistry on the offensive that the players recognized was missing last year, seems to have turned a corner, with Stockton being a big reason for the improvement.

“Gunner is obviously a very likeable person,” said Earnest Greene III. Junior offensive tackle. “It is easy to do what you should do for a day or two, but in the course of the year it is for two months that someone is the same person.

Lovett remembered that Stockton was balanced a month between the SEC championship and Sugar Bowl, calm and never too low. Lovett saw how he wrote notes and rewritten during meetings, brought additional throws and even worked with defensive players.

“He will look after the youngest boys, not only with quarterback, but also the recipients, the O lines that may have problems. He helps this boys, ”said Lovett. “He has no problem staying afterwards or going early. He will do anything to help the team. “

This does not mean that Stockton is a loud “Rah -Rah” merg. Smart said he wasn't. Beck, always Bennett or Jt Daniels was not. But the way a quarterback wears itself can indicate a tone in the team and the crime.

Stockton still has to prove itself on the field. If you are looking for another reason for optimism, some of the best quarterback season in Georgia come from them with something to prove: Bennett in 2022, when he had the first national title, Jake Fromm, in 2018 when he had to deviate Justin Fields, and Beck in 2023 when he got the start job. Fromm and Beck have not done so well in the years in which they were founded.

Of course, every situation is different and there is almost six months before Georgia's season begins. But spring is the time of optimism, and those who were there at Stockton last December.

“I have no worries about Gunner,” said Wilson. “He will be a great quarterback for the University of Georgia.”

(Photo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)