Joel Klatt explains why Gunner Stockton is a top-5 quarterback in the country
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Joel Klatt has placed Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton inside his top 5 of the best-performing quarterbacks of the young season.
On a Wednesday episode of Klatt’s podcast, the FOX Sports analyst broke down the 10 best quarterbacks in the country through the first 3 weeks of the season. Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar was at No. 8. Stockton, the guy who outdueled Aguilar in a thriller in Knoxville over the weekend, checked in at No. 4.
“The throws he made against Tennessee in crucial moments were spectacular,” Klatt said. “Spectacular. And then when you do that, you earn your way onto lists like this. That is a remarkable performance. He led his team back after being down 21-7 in one of the great environments in all of college football. That’s really tough to do.”
In a 44-41 overtime victory of the Volunteers, Stockton completed 23 of his 31 passes for 304 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran for 38 yards and another score. ESPN’s QBR metric graded Stockton out at a 93.1.
After Stockton posted a 99.2 QBR in the season-opening win over Marshall, he has 2 of the 6 highest-graded games in the SEC by a quarterback this season.
At the end of the first quarter last Saturday, Georgia trailed Tennessee 21-7. Stockton was just 4-for-8 passing for 77 yards. Over the final 3 quarters of regulation, as Georgia fought its way back into the game, Stockton completed 19 of his 23 passes for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“Stockton was excellent. The fourth down throw? Woah. You bet,” Klatt exclaimed. “It’s the calm that you provide your team in order to execute when panic certainly could enter into the equation.”
Following that win over Tennessee, Georgia is viewed by the betting markets as more likely than not to make the SEC Championship Game. At DraftKings, the Bulldogs are priced -110 to make the game and +260 to win the game.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
