There are a lot of players who deserve their flowers after Georgia's overtime win against Tennessee Saturday night. But the one player who arguably deserves the most praise is Gunner Stockton. All week long, and honestly all offseason as well, all Stockton heard was how he wasn't good enough. Georgia fans may have still believed in him, but outside of Athens he didn't have many people on his side.
That however is no longer the case after his impressive night against Tennessee in front of one of the toughest environments in the country.
So what did Kirby Smart think of Stockton's performance? During his postgame press conference, Smart used two words to describe how well Stockton played.
"Just resiliency, man," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "He's so tough. I mean, he takes shot after shot. You know, I thought he did a good job with the run game — I'm talking about his run game. He saved us on a couple of third downs."
Gunner Stockton was resilient and tough
Stockton finished the night completing 23 of 31 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran the ball for 38 yards and another touchdown as well. While these stats are very strong, it wasn't a perfect performance form him.
Stockton did have one fumble in this game deep in Georgia's territory that gave Tennessee a great opportunity to put some more points on the board. But Stockton didn't let them bother him. He came right back in the game and led Georgia on their game-tying touchdown drive and helped lead UGA to victory in overtime as well. It truly doesn't get more resilient than that.
Stockton also showed a lot of toughness throughout the game as well, which any running quarterback needs to possess. Stockton took a few big shots throughout this game, but he got back up every time and continued to deliver blows of his own to Tennessee's defense.
A lot of Georgia's success this season depends on Stockton, but if he continues to play as well as he did against Tennessee then this season has a chance to be special for UGA.