Gunner Stockton has been a bright spot for Georgia so far this season. A lot of the national media doubted Stockton entering this season, but he has proven everyone wrong as he has led Georgia to a solid 4-1 start this season.
By now everyone knows Stockton is effective both on the ground as a runner and through the air as a passer. But in the same breath everyone knows there is still a lot of work to do for Stockton to become more reliable as a passer.
Looking at the data though it's easy to see where Stockton finds the most success as a passer. Data through Georgia's first five games indicates that he is much more effective against man defense compared to zone, and if opposing defenses pick up on that then it could really cost UGA in a big game down the road.
Gunner Stockton's struggles against the zone could hurt Georgia
There are a few key metrics that show how much Stockton struggles against the zone compared to man. The one stat that stands out the most are his six touchdown passes he has so far this season as five of them have come against man to man defense with only one coming against zone defense. It's worth pointing out that the one touchdown against the zone was to running back Cash Jones, so it wasn't like Stockton picked apart a defense on that play.
Another stat that stands out is yards per route run. This statistic indicates how many yards each receiver has gained on average for every route they run. Talyn Taylor and Sacovie White-Helton are the only two receivers with more than two yards per route run against the zone, but against man Georgia has five receivers with over two yards per route run. The Bulldogs actually have two receivers over six yards per route run against man with Zachariah Branch leading the way 6.96 yards.
Last but not least is completion percentage where the lowest receiver against man to man defense is London Humphreys at 75 percent. The fact that is the lowest completion percentage is pretty astounding, but just as astounding (in a bad way) is that six receivers have a 75 percent completion percentage or less against the zone.
So what does all of this data tell Georgia? It shows that Stockton is much better against man defense instead of zone, so the hope is that defenses won't pick up on this because Georgia could be in big trouble if teams start playing more zone.