![Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton (14) kneels before the goal line to pick up the first down and run out the clock during the fourth quarter of an NCAA football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Georgia held off Florida 24-20. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6000,h_3375/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/153/01kp6jty7tw0anyvtme5.jpg "Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton (14) kneels before the goal line to pick up the first down and run out the clock during the fourth quarter of an NCAA football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Georgia held off Florida 24-20. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]")
Gunner Stockton is the most important player for Georgia next season. While he won’t be able to win a national title on his own, Georgia stands no chance at doing so if he doesn’t greatly improve from last year.
Kirby Smart recognizes this, and that is why he publicly called him out again by stating the two areas he must improve on before the fall.
”I think Gunner would be the first to tell you he wants to be more efficient. He wants to be more explosive,” Smart said via 247sports.com. “That comes with having explosive playmakers around him. That comes with having an offensive line that gives him time to do it. That comes with his legs, which he did last year and had explosive plays through his legs.”
Kirby Smart tells Gunner Stockton exactly what he needs to improve on
The two areas Smart highlighted where Stockton needs to get a lot better is being more efficient and more explosive. Efficiency is a hard thing to get better at on his own because a lot of that comes with getting more comfortable with his pass catchers, but his explosiveness is something he can get better at on his own.
Connecting on the deep ball is the area where Stockton struggled the most last season. He either wasn’t able to accurately throw passes to his receivers down the field or he never saw them in the first place.
A lot of this had to do with being too willing to tuck the ball and run. His legs are a huge benefit to the offense, but sometimes he can be a little quick to give up on the play and run.
So far this offseason he has shown he is working on staying in the pocket longer and keeping his eyes down the field. But it was clear after Georgia’s first spring scrimmage that he still has a long ways to go, and Smart is making sure he continues to work on these areas.
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