There is plenty to love about Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton's game. Coaches, teammates, and Bulldog fans all love his toughness, resilience, and understanding of Mike Bobo's sometimes complex offensive attack.
He proved in 2025 that he was the best man for the job, racking up 2,894 yards passing with 24 touchdowns against just five interceptions. For good measure, the athletic Stockton tacked on another 462 yards rushing and 10 more touchdowns on his way to leading the Dawgs to a 12-2 record and back-to-back SEC Championships.
But Stockton and Georgia fell short in the College Football Playoff each of the last two years at the hands of Notre Dame and Ole Miss.
So the question remains, despite the love that he has gotten with his solid play, is he good enough to get Kirby Smart's crew over the hump and back atop the college football world in 2026?
Questions remain regarding Gunner Stockton's pocket presence and ability to progress through reads downfield
Stockton's level of play has earned him Heisman consideration heading into his second full season as the starter, and rightfully so.
Still, Georgia fans who have watched him closely in big games have sometimes seen the scrappy Dawg tuck the ball in the pocket and look for an escape route before allowing his receivers to flash into open passing windows.
This tendency is particularly true on third down with more than eight yards to go where the wide receivers need a little more time getting beyond the first down marker and flashing open. When the Bulldogs trail in games against quality opponents, his unwillingness to let routes develop downfield has cost the team.
Stockton needs to expand what he's comfortable doing
Stockton has made his hay doing what Bobo requires of him, and doing it extremely well. The passing offense is predicated on quick-release wide receiver screens and play action that gets Stockton rolling out to his right and finding open tight ends that have released, made double moves, or run wheel routes.
The problem with that approach is that it only works for a while until opposing defensive coordinators find ways to take that away and force Stockton to throw from the pocket between the numbers.
It's not so much that Stockton makes mental errors, but more so that he has trouble seeing over the line of scrimmage within he pocket resulting in a lot of batted balls and incompletions.
Sometimes, when Stockton finds a window between the hashes, he tends to deliver a fastball that lacks touch instead of stepping up in the pocket while still keeping his eyes downfield and letting his WRs and TEs find openings in both zone and man coverage.
This is the area that Stockton has to improve upon, especially when he is facing talented defenses. His teammates love going to war with him, and it will be interesting to see if he can make this improvement in his game and take the Georgia Bulldogs to the next level.