Georgia football is still three weeks out from their first College Football Playoff game in the Sugar Bowl, and it's a good thing that they are because they have a lot of work to do to get QB Gunner Stockton ready to go in place of an injured Carson Beck. And while it will be difficult to replace Beck, Stockton is a QB who is more than capable of doing so, even on as big of a stage as the CFP is.
But it doesn't appear that the rest of the country has a lot of confidence in Stockton like Georgia fans do. In fact, a recent high profile social media account ranked the 12 starting QBs in the CFP, and Stockton was ranked dead last.
Ranking The 12 College Football Playoff Starting Quarterbacks 🎯 pic.twitter.com/7r6XgvLZKt
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) December 10, 2024
Gunner Stockton deserves more respect
Nobody's saying that Stockton should even be in the top half of these rankings, but are we sure he should be ranked dead last? Did people already forget what he did in Georgia's win against Texas in the SEC Championship game?
Stockton may not have had the best game in the world against the Longhorns statistically, but he did what most backup QBs would not be able to do against one of the best defenses in the country. He led them to victory in the entire second half after UGA was trailing at halftime. He also made more than a few really good throws and showed that he can be deadly with his legs.
On top of proving himself in the second half, Stockton was a very highly ranked recruit out of high school. He was the No. 110 player in the country and No. 7 QB, according to 247Sports. So just because he hasn't had his opportunity to be a starter in college yet doesn't mean he's terrible like this site is suggessting.
Thankfully Stockton is going to have a chance to prove himself in the CFP, and based on how he did against Texas and the elite team that he has around him at Georgia, he likely is going to prove a lot of people wrong.