Gunner Stockton has been the perfect quarterback for Georgia so far this season. Not only has his play on the field been very strong, but he has been one of the best leaders UGA has had in quite some time.
During Kirby Smart's press conference on Tuesday, he spoke about and gave two reasons why Georgia loves Stockton so much.
"Well, I think you wanna play hard for players that make sacrifices and that you like," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "I mean, ultimately, when you like someone, you love someone, you endear yourself to someone, you play harder for them. And the players love Gunner, they wanna play hard for him. He doesn't complain, he doesn't point fingers, he doesn't lay blame. He takes hits on the chin and takes some pretty vicious ones, and he gets up and goes on to play the next play. And I think there's a lot of respect in that humility that the other players on offense and really the whole team have for Gunner."
2 reasons why Gunner Stockton is loved by his teammates
The two reasons why Georgia's team loves Stockton so much is beause he doesn't complain or make excuses when things are going wrong and he is resiliant and able to keep pushing even after he takes big hits.
That is really the only thing any teammate wants from their leader. They want someone who isn't going to hand out any blame when times are tough and they want a leader who is going to go to war with them and fight through whatever troubles come their way. These are two things Stockton has shown from the moment he took over during the 2024 SEC Championship game, and he has continued to excel as a leader in these facets this season as well.
It also doesn't hurt that Stockton's played extremely well on the field this season too. And it definitely doesn't hurt that the best performance of his career came at Tennessee this weekend when Georgia was so close to losing the game. But Stockton was able to lead UGA to victory because of his great play on the field and his leadership off the field, and that is why he is loved by all of his teammates.