Gunner Stockton is coming off a very impressive showing during Georgia's first game of the season. Stockton led Georgia to a dominant win against the Thundering Herd by throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for two more while not making any critical mistakes.
This impressive performance has officially made Stockton a Hesiman candidate, but Kirby Smart is still holding back from singing his praises.
When speaking with the media earlier this week, Smart shared the one thing that is most important for Stockton to improve on as Georgia prepares for their upcoming game against Austin PEay.
"Next step is to continue to gain confidence in trusting his offensive line for play action, shot plays, two minute for the half," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "I thought he did an excellent job of improvising when things weren't there or there was a breakdown. And that was probably the best thing he did was take care of the ball, protect the ball, and make plays with his legs. But he continues to get better. The next step is to play with a little more confidence. I think each time you start playing games, you lose some of that anxiety."
Gunner Stockton needs to improve trust with his offensive line
Entering this season everyone knew how Stockton would be able to use his legs to beat defenses, but no one expected him to dominate the run game as much as he did against Marshall. In fact, Stockton led the team both in carries (10) and rushing yards (95) last weekend against Marshall.
After seeing how much success he was able to find on the ground, the fear now is that Stockton will become to reliant on his legs. Stockton may be too willing to tuck the ball and run the second he feels pressure instead of trusting his offensive line. So that is the thing Smart wants to see from his quarterback, he wants to see Stockton trust that his offensive line has his back so the offense can still be effective in the passing game and not rely on Stockton utilizing his legs too often.
It will be interesting to see if Stockton falls in love with the run game against Austin Peay or not, but if it were up to Smart he would ensure that Stockton continues to trust his offensive line and the rest of the team to do their job.