No Georgia football fan needs to be reminded about the disrespect Gunner Stockton received all offseason. Countless analysts proclaimed how much trouble Georgia was in with Stockton taking over as their starting quarterback, with many claiming UGA stood no chance at competing for an SEC Championship this season.
Fast forward to today and Stockton has proven everyone wrong. Stockton has led Georgia to a 6-1 record, top five ranking and has played his way into the Heisman Trophy conversation.
With Georgia beginning their second bye week of the season this week, now is the perfect time to revisit some of those takes from the offseason that look completely ridiculous now. And the one opinion that went the most viral this offseason came from Paul Finebaum in the below video.
Kirby knew all along
— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) October 19, 2025
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Gunner Stockton has shut Paul Finebaum up
The above video shows Kirby Smart and Finebaum reacting to a separate clip of Finebaum claiming Stockton won’t be good enough for Georgia this season. This video took place during the summer, so at the time no one knew how Stockton would do this season, but it’s clear how wrong Smart thought Finebaum was.
Smart however didn’t react in any negative way to Finebaum. All he did was say thank you for the extra motivation he gave Stockton, which clearly has worked out in Georgia’s favor so far this season.
The Bulldogs still have five games left this season to prove they are worthy of playing for championships in the postseason, but so far Stockton has proven that he is as good as any quarterback in the country. And when it comes to Finebaum who is known for having the most outlandish opinions out of anyone in the college football media, it is nice to see Stockton prove him wrong and shut him up.
And it’s fun to imagine Smart sitting somewhere nodding his head in approval because he knew all along how great of a player Stockton was going to be this season.